Pope Francis made a surprise entrance to the Plaza de San Pedro on Sunday during a special jubilee mass dedicated to the sick and health workers, in his first public appearance in the Vatican since his departure from the hospital two weeks ago.
The Pontiff raised his hands to greet the crowd, who stood up and applauded, while carrying him without warning to the front of the altar in the square.
“Good Sunday for all”Francisco said, speaking for a microphone, which he hit to make sure he worked in a second attempt. “Thank you so much”.
The voice of the Pontiff sounded stronger than when he went to supporters before the Gemelli Hospital on the day of his high on March 23, after fighting a pneumonia that endangered his life during a five -week hospital stay. He has just completed two weeks of at least two months of rest ordered by doctors while continuing with physical, respiratory and speech therapy, as well as treatment for persistent lung infection.
The Pope referred to his experience with the disease both in the traditional Sunday blessing and in the homily read by Archbishop Rino Fisichella, organizer of the Holy Year that is expected to carry about 30 million pilgrims to Rome.
Going to the sick among the crowd, the Pope said in the homily read by Fisichella that “at this moment of my life I share a lot: the experience of the disease, to feel weak, to depend on others for many things, to have the need for support.”
“It is not always easy, but it is a school in which we learn every day to love and let us love, without pretending and without rejecting, without regretting and without despair, grateful to God and the brothers for the good we receive, abandoned and confident in what is yet to come,” he added.
He also urged the faithful not to remove the fragile from their lives “let’s not relegate to the one who is fragile, moving it away from our life, as unfortunately we see that sometimes a certain type of mentality usually does today, we do not apart the pain of our environments. Let’s make an occasion to grow together, to cultivate hope thanks to the love that God has shed,” he said.
In the traditional Sunday blessing, he prayed for doctors, nurses and health workers “who do not always have help to work in inappropriate conditions, sometimes victims of aggressions. His mission is not easy and must be supported and respected.”
