Prayers continue to pour in for the pontiff, who has been hospitalized for weeks as he battles pneumonia.
ROME, Italy — A stable Pope Francis had a visit Sunday from the Vatican secretary of state as he continued his recovery from double pneumonia, but again skipped his weekly noon blessing to avoid even a brief public appearance from the hospital.
Instead, the Vatican distributed a message from the pope in which he thanked his doctors for their care and well-wishers for their prayers, and prayed again for peace in Ukraine and elsewhere.
“From here, war appears even more absurd,” Francis said in the message, which he drafted in recent days from the Gemelli hospital, the Vatican said. Francis said he was living his hospitalization as an experience of profound solidarity with people who are sick and suffering everywhere.
“I feel in my heart the ‘blessing’ that is hidden within frailty, because it is precisely in these moments that we learn even more to trust in the Lord,” Francis said in the text. “At the same time, I thank God for giving me the opportunity to share in body and spirit the condition of so many sick and suffering people.”
Signs point to a recovery
It marked the third weekend in a row that Francis has canceled the Sunday appointment delivering the Angelus prayer in person. He could have done so from his 10th floor hospital suite at the Gemelli hospital if he were well enough.
But many signs indicated he was improving, especially after a respiratory crisis on Friday afternoon that resulted in him inhaling vomit during a coughing fit and raising the possibility of new infection.
“The night was quiet, the pope is still resting,” the Vatican said in its Sunday update. Francis was up, read the Sunday papers and had coffee and breakfast while continuing with his therapy.
Cardinal Pietro Parolin and his chief of staff, Archbishop Edgar Pena Parra, also called on the pope Sunday morning, their second visit since Francis’ Feb. 14 hospitalization, according to the Vatican spokesman, Matteo Bruni. There were no details of what was discussed, but the mere visit suggested Francis’ condition was stabilizing.
Doctors on Saturday reported that Francis was in stable condition, with no mention of him being critical, and managed to take “long periods” of time off the noninvasive mechanical ventilation he needed to recover after Friday’s respiratory crisis.
The 88-year-old pope had a “good response” in his gas exchange levels even while off the ventilator mask Saturday and only using high-flow supplemental oxygen, the Vatican said.
He had no fever or signs of elevated white blood cells, which would signal his body was fighting a new infection.
The fact that Francis was able to use just high-flow oxygen for long periods, without any significant effect on the levels of oxygen in his blood, was a sign his respiratory function was improving.
Doctors were cautious however and kept his prognosis as guarded, meaning he wasn’t out of danger. He was eating and drinking and continued his respiratory physiotherapy, and spent 20 minutes in his private chapel down the hall on Saturday, the Vatican said.
The pope, who had part of one lung removed as a young man, has lung disease and was admitted to Gemelli on Feb. 14 after a bout of bronchitis worsened and turned into a complex pneumonia in both lungs.
Prayers continued to pour in
Francis’ hospitalization has come as the Vatican is marking its Holy Year, drawing pilgrims to Rome from all over. Many have added a pilgrimage destination to their itineraries so they can pray for Francis at the Gemelli hospital, which is around a 20-minute drive from the Vatican, longer in rush hour or on public transport.
The Rev. Riccardo Fumagalli had accompanied a group of young people from Milan to Rome for the Jubilee and would have attended Francis’ Angelus prayer in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday if he had delivered it as usual. Instead, they went to Gemelli.
“It seemed good to us to come here to express our closeness, especially of these teenagers, to be close to the Holy Father to pray for him, to pray for this moment of illness,” he said.
Cancer patient Antonino Cacace was also arriving Sunday at Gemelli from Milan for his own treatment, saying he has to undergo surgery in the coming days and was counting on Francis’ prayers.
“I am glad the pope is giving me help,” he said. “I am on the ninth (floor) and he is on the 10th (floor). I hope to meet him and see him,” he said.
