The day after Pope Francis paid a brief visit to Rome’s Gemelli Isola Hospital for “diagnostic tests,” he had a full morning of audiences, including a meeting with bishops from Italy’s Emilia Romagna region making their “ad limina” visits to the Vatican.

Pope Francis paid a brief visit to Rome’s Gemelli Isola Hospital Feb. 28 for “diagnostic tests,” the Vatican press office said, without providing specifics.

Arriving in a wheelchair instead of walking with his cane, Pope Francis began his weekly general audience by telling visitors and pilgrims, “I’m still a bit sick,” so an aide would read his prepared text.

Christians who never renounce their love for Christ and are faithful to the point of death are a blessing for everyone, Pope Francis said.

After participating in a seminar on the Catholic Church and the Freemasons, an Italian bishop reaffirmed that Catholics who belong to Masonic lodges are in a “serious state of sin” and cannot receive Communion.

This Lent, Christians should become “seekers of light” by keeping their sights set on the light of Jesus through prayer and participating in the sacraments, Pope Francis said.

Saying Pope Francis was continuing to experience “mild flu-like symptoms,” the Vatican announced he had canceled his appointments again Feb. 26.

Like a giant Tinkertoy construction, a skeletal tower of scaffolding slowly inched its way up the twisting bronze columns of the baldachin over the main altar of St. Peter’s Basilica.

The Vatican is seeking to draw pilgrims to the four historic papal basilicas scattered around Rome — not physically, but virtually, through a website and podcast aimed at drawing young people into the spiritual depth of Rome’s sacred spaces.

Mexico’s two main presidential candidates have met with Pope Francis in the prelude to the country’s election campaigns, marking a further retreat from the country’s previously strictly secular political culture as they court voters in the predominantly Catholic country.