Desmond Tutu is hospitalized at 88 for a "recurrent infection"

Archbishop emeritus of Cape Town and Nobel Peace Prize winner Desmond Tutu has been hospitalized at age 88 for a "recurrent infection," his wife, Leah, reported Tuesday.

"The archbishop has been hospitalized several times in recent years for a similar problem," his wife added in a brief statement, without providing details about the date of his admission to the hospital or his health status.

Tutu, who has been fighting prostate cancer for years, was seen in public on November 11 in Cape Town (southwest of South Africa) during the tribute that the City Council dedicated to the national rugby team, better known as the Springboks, after his victory in the World Cup in Japan.

"What this group of young people has achieved speaks, beyond rugby, of the possibility of what we can be," said Tutu, according to a statement from his Foundation released after reception.

The archbishop was already hospitalized in September of last year in a hospital where he remained for a little more than two weeks.

Awarded with the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984 for his fight against the South African racial segregation of apartheid, Tutu has been facing prostate cancer for more than a decade and in recent years he has had to be hospitalized several times because of infections.

His life has been devoted to a constant defense of human rights, something that led him to demarcate on numerous occasions from the ecclesiastical hierarchy to openly defend positions in favor of the rights of homosexuals or euthanasia.

Although in recent years he has stayed away from public life because of his delicate health, Tutu remains one of the key figures in South African contemporary history and the fight against "apartheid."