The spiritual leader of Catholics and the President of the Vatican City State, Pope Francis, had difficulty breathing while leading a ceremony in the Vatican. Suddenly out of breath, the Pope asked his assistant to finish his speech for him.

Within the framework of the traditional “Jubilee” year celebrated by Catholics every 25 years, Pope Francis, who welcomes different professional groups to the Vatican at certain intervals, also conducted a special mass for around 30,000 military delegations from various countries, including Italian security forces. The special Mass for security forces took place in St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican in cold weather and lasted about 2 hours. It was observed that Pope Francis, who had been suffering from bronchitis since the beginning of the week, had been postponing some of his appointments or holding limited meetings due to him being tired and struggling during today’s ceremony.

“I’M HAVING DIFFICULTY BREATHING”
During the ceremony, the spiritual leader of Catholics said, “I’m sorry, I’m having difficulty breathing,” and asked his assistant next to him to read his speech. In Pope’s speech to the security forces, he said, “I ask you not to lose sight of the purpose of your service and actions: Saving lives, always defending life. I ask you to stay awake. Be vigilant against the allure of fueling war.”

“LET WEAPONS BE SILENCED EVERYWHERE”
Pope Francis emphasized that the service in the armed forces should only aim for legitimate defense and should never seek to establish sovereignty over other nations. In the final part of the Mass, Pope made the Sunday prayer speech himself. He called on believers to pray for peace in Ukraine, Palestine, Israel, Myanmar, the Kivu region of the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Sudan, saying, “Let weapons be silenced everywhere.”