Pope Francis cancels meetings due to mild flu, Vatican says

Vatican City: Pope Francis cancelled his scheduled appointments for Monday due to a mild flu, the Vatican said in a statement.

The Vatican said the 87-year-old pontiff made the decision as a precautionary measure in view of his planned four-day trip to Luxembourg and Belgium later this week, but it gave no further details.

Francis is scheduled to begin the trip, his 46th foreign visit as pope, on Thursday. It comes less than two weeks after he returned from a demanding 12-day, four-country tour of Southeast Asia and Oceania.

Francis now regularly uses a wheelchair due to knee and back pain. He has also suffered bouts of ill health in recent years. Earlier this year, he cancelled several appointments over what the Vatican variously described as a cold, bronchitis and influenza.

The Pope appeared in good form throughout his September 2-13 trip to Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Singapore. He maintained a packed schedule, headlining more than 40 events, and clocked up a total of nearly 33,000 km (20,500 miles).

His trip to Luxembourg and Belgium is expected to highlight the needs of migrants in Europe and to include a meeting with survivors of abuse by Catholic clergy.

Francis' agenda in Luxembourg and Belgium will be lighter than that of the Southeast Asia and Oceania trip, with the pope scheduled to take part in about a dozen events over four days.