ROME -- Pope Francis is an 87-year-old man whose periodic bouts of poor health and fatigue that have forced him to give up recent readings are only to be expected for a man of his age, his doctor told Corriere della Sera Monday.
"The pope is an 87-year-old man with huge responsibilities. It is normal that he should go through periods of fatigue," said Sergio Alfieri, director of the surgery department at Rome's Gemelli Hospital, who has led abdominal surgery on Pope Francis twice in the last three years.
"I have no evidence of concerning situations," Alfieri said.
"The Holy Father is well for his age and considering his episodic respiratory difficulties in the coldest periods, which are also due to the lung operation he had many years ago," he said.
"I don't see him every day but I can assure you that he does not have particular diseases.
And he undergoes regular check-ups," he added. (ANSA)
