Pope Francis is pressing ahead with a four-day visit to Luxembourg and Belgium despite coming down with a mild flu, in a trip expected to highlight the needs of migrants and to feature a meeting with survivors of abuse by Catholic clergy.

Pope Francis canceled a meeting Monday with the members of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences after suffering from "mild flu-like" conditions, the Vatican said.

Pope Francis will press ahead with plans to travel to Luxembourg and Belgium later this week, despite cancelling his meetings for Monday due to a mild flu, the Vatican said. The tour, his 46th foreign visit as pope,

The Vatican confirmed that plans remain in place for Pope Francis to go to Belgium and Luxembourg later this week, despite having canceled all his audiences Monday because of a “slight flu-like state.

Dillon told VOA that while Pope Francis engages in interreligious dialogue in Asia, Europe and places like Belgium and Luxembourg remain very important to him and the Roman Catholic Church. “Secularization has sort of really accelerated certainly in the last 20 years.

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.