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Spokesman Matteo Bruni, briefing reporters on the three-day
visit which begins on Friday, said Francis will deliver one of
the keynote speeches on Saturday and will have bilateral
meetings the same day with about 30 people, including about 20
heads of state.
"The pope is doing well," Bruni said, adding that the Vatican
will decide before the trip whether to take any extra
precautions for the 86-year-old pope's health.
"For now everything is normal for papal trips, a doctor and a
nurse will accompany him as usual," he said.
Francis, as a young man in his native Argentina, had part of a
lung removed.
The Vatican announced on Monday that the pope would limit his
activities this week in order to conserve his strength.
A CT scan done at a Rome hospital on Saturday excluded pneumonia
but detected inflammation in the pope's lungs that caused
breathing difficulties. He was receiving antibiotics
intravenously, the Vatican said on Monday.
The pope met with Spanish bishops visiting the Vatican on
Tuesday and plans to go ahead with his weekly general audience
in an indoor auditorium on Wednesday, Bruni said.
Also on Tuesday, the Vatican released a schedule of papal
activities for the Christmas season.
Francis had surgery on an abdominal hernia in June, spending
nine days in hospital. He appears to have recovered fully from
that operation.
(Reporting by Philip Pullella; Editing by Alison Williams and
Bernadette Baum)
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