Vatican City- Pope Francis, hospitalized for 17 days for a double pneumonia, thanked the faithful on Sunday his prayers in a written message “from the hospital” on the occasion of the Angelus, when the concern remains about his state of health.
“I would like to thank you for the prayers (…): I feel your affection and your proximity and, at this particular moment, I feel like led and sustained by the people of God,” writes the 88 -year -old Argentine pontiff in his speech.
The spiritual leader of 1.4 billion Catholics in the world is hospitalized at the Gemelli Clinic in Rome since February 14 by bronchitis, which resulted in double pneumonia. Since then, he has not made any public appearance.
This Sunday, he was absent from the traditional Message of Angelus from the Plaza de San Pedro for the third consecutive week and did not do it from a hospital balcony, as he did during his hospitalization in 2021.
“The first idea when you get to the square is to look at the window where it usually appears. Unfortunately now …” Lorena Compa, a 49 -year accounting of how, in northern Italy. “You have to keep waiting,” he added.
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“Medical part”
The last medical part, released by the Holy See on Saturday night, informed that the state of the Pope is stable, after a relapse on Friday caused by a bronchospasm respiratory crisis. Your prognosis is reserved.
After spending a quiet night, “the Pope has woken up, has had breakfast with coffee and has read the newspapers as he usually does, and continues his treatment as always,” a Vatican source said Sunday.
Its treatment consists of alternating non -invasive mechanical ventilation with long periods of oxygen therapy, together with respiratory physiotherapy, according to Saturday’s last medical part.
Francisco also received this Sunday for the second time since his hospitalization to his Secretary of State, Cardinal Italian Pietro Parolin, and the Venezuelan archbishop Edgar Peña Parra, numbers 2 and 3 of the Holy See, respectively.
On Friday all alarms jumped over their health. The new respiratory crisis worsened by the state of the first Latin American pontiff, hours after a Vatican source confirmed its output of the “critical” state.
Francisco, who in his message from the hospital highlighted the opportunity to share in the body and in the spirit the condition of so many patients and people who suffer, also has words of thanks for the doctors who care for him.
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“Absurd war”
This hospitalization, the fourth and longer since 2021, generates concern about the previous problems that weakened the health of Jorge Bergoglio in recent years: operations in the colon and the abdomen, and difficulties in walking.
The situation has also reopened questions about their ability to perform their functions, especially when canon law does not provide any disposition in case of a serious problem that may affect its lucidity.
Hundreds of people gathered on Saturday for the sixth consecutive night to pray a rosary for the Pope’s health. Unlike the previous days, the rain displaced this prayer marathon from the Plaza de San Pedro inside the homonymous monumental basilica.
“We pray to heal, because Pope Francis is very important for us, for his humility, for his diversity (…) inspires us a lot, he guides us,” said Paolo, a Venetian visit in Rome with his wife Federica and his daughter Maria Chiara.
“Thank you all!” The Pontiff replied in his message from the Angelus: “I also pray for you. And I pray above all for peace. From here the war seems even more absurd. We pray for the tormented Ukraine, by Palestine, Israel, Lebanon, Myanmar, Sudan, Kivu,” he said.
