Pope Francis has issued a message he would have delivered at his weekly noon blessing if he were well enough, as he continues his recovery from double pneumonia.
After more than three weeks in the hospital, doctors on Sunday said the 88-year-old is responding well to treatment and has shown a “gradual, slight improvement” in recent days.
While Francis didn’t appear for his weekly noon blessing for a fourth Sunday in a row, he did meet with his top deputies and the Holy See distributed a message, in which the Argentine pope thanked volunteers for the “miracle of tenderness” they offer others who are sick and experiencing a “night of pain.”
“Brothers and sisters, during my prolonged hospitalisation here, I too experience the thoughtfulness of service and the tenderness of care, in particular from the doctors and health care workers, whom I thank from the bottom of my heart,” read the message from Gemelli hospital.
“And while I am here, I think of the many people who in various ways are close to the sick, and who are for them a sign of the Lord’s presence.
“We need this, the ‘miracle of tenderness’ which accompanies those who are in adversity, bringing a little light into the night of pain.”
Francis, who has chronic lung disease and had part of one lung removed as a young man, has remained in stable condition at Gemelli, with no fever and good oxygen levels in his blood for several days, doctors reported in a Vatican statement on Saturday.
The doctors said that such stability “as a consequence testifies to a good response to therapy.” It was the first time the doctors had reported that Francis was responding positively to the treatment for the complex lung infection that was diagnosed after he was hospitalised on February 14.
But they kept his prognosis as “guarded”, meaning he’s not out of danger. On Sunday morning, the Vatican reported he was resting after a quiet night.
In his absence, the Vatican’s day-to-day operations continued alongside celebrations of its Holy Year, the once-every-quarter-century Jubilee that brings millions of pilgrims to Rome.
On Sunday, Canadian Cardinal Michael Czerny, who is close to Francis, celebrated the Holy Year Mass for volunteers that Francis was supposed to have celebrated.
During the Mass in St. Peter’s Square, the giant banner bearing Francis’ papal coat of arms fluttered from the loggia of the basilica above. Even while in the hospital, Francis is very much still the pope and in charge of the Catholic Church.
That was evident too by the fact that the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, and chief of staff, Archbishop Edgar Pena Parra, visited the pope on Sunday, for the third time since he has been in the hospital. The Vatican has noted that such meetings are the routine way the pope governs while at the Vatican, making clear that he was getting essential work done from Gemelli.
Francis has been using high flows of supplemental oxygen to help him breathe during the day and a noninvasive mechanical ventilation mask at night.
He was hospitalised on February 14 for what was then just a bad case of bronchitis. The infection progressed into a complex respiratory tract infection and double pneumonia that has sidelined Francis for the longest period of his 12-year papacy and raised questions about the future.
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