Cardinal Francis George, who is battling a recurrence of cancer, is being treated for an infection in his right foot that could require the use of crutches “for the near future,” and has canceled an out-of-town trip after being advised not to fly, the archdiocese said Wednesday.
The latest health setback comes just days after the Vatican announced that Washington’s Bishop Blase Cupich would replace the retiring 77-year-old George in November.
George already had canceled a trip to Rome in October to meet with Pope Francis because of medical treatment after announcing he was participating in a clinical trial of an experimental drug at the University of Chicago Medicine.
George, who has been the spiritual leader of Chicago’s more than 2 million Roman Catholics since 1997, survived bladder cancer eight years ago, but it recurred near his right kidney.
He said early this year that he believes the cancer eventually will take his life.
The Vatican on Saturday announced that Pope Francis had appointed Cupich, 65, a native of Nebraska, to head the high-profile Chicago archdiocese.
The archdiocese did not say if George still planned to travel to Europe in November to meet with archbishops in Barcelona, Spain, and then to the Vatican.
