Pope cancels appointments due to mild flu

Pope Francis at General Audience. Image: Vatican Media

Source: Vatican Media

Pope Francis canceled his audiences scheduled for Monday due to a mild flu, as a precautionary measure ahead of his upcoming visit to Luxembourg and Belgium, the Vatican Press Office has said in a statement.

The Holy Father is due to set set out on his 46th Apostolic Journey to Luxembourg and Belgium on Thursday, 26 September.

During his four day visit he will address a host of themes, including peace, migration, the climate emergency, and the future for young people, and Church issues, including the role of Christianity in societies marked by secularisation, and the contribution of Christian education.

The Pope will be attending events at the Catholic University of Louvain, which is celebrating its 600th anniversary this year. His visit will also include a beatification ceremony during Mass at the King Baudouin Stadium, of Venerable Anna de Jesus, a 17th century Carmelite sister who led a monastery in Brussels for fourteen years.

According to recent surveys, about 57 per cent of Belgium's 11.2 million population is Catholic. 20 per cent are nonbeliever/agnostic, 9 per cent atheist; 6 percent Muslim; 2.3 per cent Protestant.