According to the Vatican, Pontiff plans to wave and give a blessing from the Agostino Gemelli Hospital in Rome at the end of the weekly prayer
O will wave and give his blessing on Sunday (23), from the window of the Gemelli Hospital in Rome, his first public appearance since his hospitalization on February 14, announced the This Saturday (22). “Pope Francis plans to wave and give a blessing from the Agostino Gemelli Hospital in Rome at the end of Angelus (weekly prayer), which, as in recent weeks, will be published in writing,” said the Holy See’s press room.
Francisco, 88, has not led Angelus’ prayer since February 9. Since then, the ceremony was missing for five consecutive weeks, something unprecedented since its election in March 2013. Angelus is usually publicly pronounced every Sunday at noon by the Pope, from an Apostolic Palace window overlooking St. Peter’s Square, where the faithful come together to see him and hear him.
The announcement of his public reappearance on Sunday occurs after the Vatican reported in recent days improvements in the health of the Pontiff, after double pneumonia that led to his hospitalization on February 14 and generated fears that his life was in danger. “The improvement of the clinical state of the Holy Father is confirmed,” the Vatican wrote in his latest medical bulletin published on Wednesday. Francisco’s pneumonia was not “eliminated”, but is now “under control,” said Vatican press office.
Acts prior to Holy Week
This will not be the first time that Francis has made a public appearance at Gemelli Hospital: on July 11, 2021, he recited Angelus’ prayer, in front of faithful and journalists, the balcony of his fourteenth floor after colon surgery. In June 2023, after an abdominal hernia operation, he recited Angelus at Gemelli Hospital without appearing on the balcony.
Pope John Paul II also did the same on several occasions during his 26-year-old pontificate (1978-2005), both through audio recordings and through apparitions in Gemelli balconies. The Pope’s illness and long hospitalization raised doubts about who could lead the broad agenda of religious events before Holy Week, the most sacred period of the Christian calendar.
The Vatican said on Wednesday that no final decision was made on the subject. Francisco is prone to respiratory diseases and had part of his lung removed when he was young. Despite its recent improvement, the Vatican did not indicate when it will be discharged from the hospital.
*With information from AFP
Posted by Victor Oliveira
