Pope Francis lost the majority of one lung due to a infection when he was a teenager, however, he is in good health, reports show.

Doctors said having one lung means it's not advised to do strenuous exercises but it doesn't reduce the pope's lifespan or compromise his health, according to the Associated Press.

Regardless, his authorized biographer Sergio Rubin said, "He's a little bit slowed by it, but he's OK."

Dr. Peter Openshaw, director of the Centre for Respiratory Infection at Imperial College London, told the AP that Pope Francis' other lung might have expanded to fill the space of the missing one and could compensate for the other one.

"The other lung can gain capacity but there will be limits. You may not be able to accelerate as hard but it still works just as well," Openshaw told the AP.

Openshaw added that having one lung should be enough as long as its healthy. Dr. Jennifer Quint, respiratory expert at London's School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, also said that Pope Francis should take medical precautions to keep healthy, and his seemingly healthy appearance at age 76 seems promising.

"I would recommend a yearly flu vaccination and an occasional pneumonia vaccine to avoid infection," Quint told the AP.

Tags: Pope Francis one lung