Rome — Pope Francis fell and injured his right hand on Thursday, the Vatican said, just weeks after another apparent fall resulted in a large bruise on his chin. Francis did not break his arm, but a sling was put on him as a precaution, a Vatican spokesman said in a statement

On December 7, the Pope hit his chin on his bedside table in an apparent fall that resulted in a large bruise.

The 88-year-old pope, who has struggled with health problems including rainbows attacks of bronchitisoften has to use a wheelchair due to bad knees. He uses a walker or cane when moving around the apartment in the Santa Marta Hotel in the Vatican.

The Vatican said Thursday’s fall also happened in Santa Marta, and the pope was later seen in an audience with his right hand in a sling.

“Due to a fall in the Santa Marta house this morning, Pope Francis suffered a contusion of his right forearm, without a fracture. The arm was immobilized as a precautionary measure,” the statement said.

Speculations about Francis’ health are a constant in Vatican circles, especially after Pope Benedict XVI he broke with 600 years of tradition and resigned from the papacy in 2013. Benedict’s aides attributed the decision to a nightfall he suffered during a trip to Mexico in 2012, after which he concluded he could not keep up with the demands of the papacy’s world-traveling papacy.

Francis, however, said he has no plans to resign anytime soon, even if Benedict has “opened the door” to that possibility. In his autobiography “Hope” published this week, Francis said he did not think about resigning even when he had a major bowel operation.

Francis had part of one of his lungs removed when he was a young man in Argentina after suffering severe pneumonia.