Pope could have died when hospitalised last month, he told Italian man

The 86-year-old pontiff was taken to Rome's Gemelli hospital on 29 March and discharged three days later. He appeared in good health as he led Easter celebrations all last week.

Michele Ferri, from the central Italian city of Pesaro, said the pope sounded better in their most recent conversation than he had the last time the two men spoke in January.

"He seemed very tired (back then)," Ferri said.

Ferri confirmed remarks he had made earlier to Italian regional newspaper Il Resto del Carlino, in which he quoted the pope as having told him: "A few more hours and I'm not sure I would have been around to tell it."

"I told him: you really gave us a fright!" Ferri said.

Ferri is widely quoted in Italian media as someone who speaks to the pope regularly, since Francis first called to comfort him after the death of his brother who was killed in a robbery a decade ago.

The pope is known to keep a small list of people he phones regularly, often after comforting them following tragedies. The Vatican never confirms their names but has not denied that he speaks to Ferri. It did not respond to a request for comment on Ferri's latest remarks.

Last week the pope was well enough to preside over all Easter celebrations except for a Good Friday night-time outdoor service in Rome that the Vatican said he skipped due to unseasonably cold weather.

Francis suffers from a number of ailments, including a bad knee that hampers his ability to walk. Part of one of his lungs was removed because of an illness when he was a young man in Argentina.

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