Pope Francis went to a Rome hospital on Wednesday and cancelled his audiences for the next two days to undergo previously scheduled tests, the Vatican said.

The Vatican provided no details, including how long the 86-year-old pontiff would remain at Gemelli University Hospital, where he underwent surgery in 2021.

But his audiences through Friday were cancelled, raising questions about Francis’ participation during the Vatican’s Holy Week activities starting on Sunday.

“The Holy Father has been at Gemelli since this afternoon for some previously scheduled check-ups,” the Vatican said in a one-line statement from spokesman Matteo Bruni.

Vatican Pope
Pope Francis is helped into the popemobile at the end of his weekly general audience in St Peter’s Square (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Francis appeared in relatively good form during his regularly scheduled general audience on Wednesday, though he grimaced strongly while getting into and out of the “popemobile”.

The purpose of the medical tests was not immediately clear. Francis had part of one lung removed when he was a young man due to a respiratory infection, and he often speaks in a whisper.

He spent 10 days at the Gemelli hospital following the 2021 surgery for an intestinal narrowing, which included the removal of 33 centimetres (13 inches) of his colon.

Francis is due to celebrate Palm Sunday this weekend, kicking off the Vatican’s Holy Week observances: Holy Thursday; Good Friday; the Easter Vigil; and, finally, Easter Sunday on April 9.

He has used a wheelchair for more than a year due to strained ligaments in his right knee and a small knee fracture.

He has said the injury was healing and been walking more with a cane of late.

Francis also has said he resisted having surgery for the knee problems because he did not respond well to general anaesthetic during the 2021 intestinal surgery.

He said soon after the surgery that he had recovered fully and could eat normally.

But in a January 24 interview with the Associated Press, Francis said his diverticulosis, or bulges in the intestinal wall, had “returned”.