UPDATE 1-Pope "slightly indisposed", cancels one event, Vatican says

(Adds Thursday meeting, Vatican picture, previous health
problems)
By Philip Pullella
VATICAN CITY, Feb 27 (Reuters) - Pope Francis is slightly
indisposed and has cancelled an event at a Rome basilica but is
carrying out the rest of his schedule in his residence, the
Vatican said on Thursday.
"Because of a slight indisposition, he preferred to stay
inside Santa Marta," the Vatican said, referring to the Vatican
guest house where the 83-year-old pontiff lives.
"All other commitments will go ahead regularly," spokesman
Matteo Bruni said.
The Vatican released a picture of the pope and Cardinal
Antonio Tagle, a Filipino who has just started in a new post in
the Vatican, meeting on Thursday morning with members of the
Global Catholic Climate Movement, an international environmental
group. The meeting took place in a building steps from the guest
house.
The pope appeared to have a cold and spoke with a slightly
hoarse voice at his general audience on Wednesday and coughed
during an afternoon Ash Wednesday service in a Rome church.
Francis is missing a part of one lung. It was removed when
he was in his early 20s in his native Buenos Aires after he
suffered from tuberculosis, according to biographer Austen
Ivereigh.
He also suffers some leg pain due to sciatica, for which he
undergoes regular physical therapy and which explains his
occasional difficulty climbing steps.
But he is in generally good health and has been able to
endure about four gruelling international trips each year since
his election in 2013.
The pope had been due to go to the Basilica of St. John's in
Lateran on Thursday morning for a Lenten service with Roman
priests.
Some Lent Ash Wednesday services were cancelled or limited
in areas of northern Italy hit by the spread of coronavirus.
More than 400 people have contracted the disease and 12 have
died of it in Italy, in the worst contagion from the coronavirus
so far recorded in Europe.
A number of people wore masks in St. Peter's Square at the
Wednesday audience but only one person was seen wearing one at
the pope's Ash Wednesday service.