Many who know him said that Francis, driven by a sense of mission and a discipline born of his early training, essentially worked himself into the hospital.

Pope Francis was admitted to hospital in Rome on Friday for tests and treatment for bronchitis, the Vatican announced. The 88-year-old, who has been breathless in recent days and has delegated officials to read his speeches,

The Vatican said Pope Francis has the "onset of bilateral pneumonia," and that tests, a chest X-ray and the pope's clinical condition present a "complex picture."