Pope Francis will make, Sunday, March 23, a salvation and a blessing for the prayer of the Angelus from a window of the Gemelli Hospital in Rome, his first public appearance since his hospitalization on February 14, announced the Vatican on Saturday. Prayer will be “Published in written form as in recent weeks”said the Vatican press room.
The 88-year-old Pope has not chaired the weekly prayer of the Angelus since February 9, missing this meeting the following five weeks, a first since his election in March 2013. This prayer is normally recited by the Pope every Sunday at noon in public from a window of the Apostolic Palace overlooking the Saint-Pierre square, where the faithful came to see it and listen to it.
This announcement comes as the Vatican reported recent progress in the Pope's health, after having feared that his life will be threatened by pneumonia with both lungs. “Improvement of the clinical condition of the Holy Father is confirmed”wrote the Vatican in its latest medical bulletin published on Wednesday. François' pneumonia was not “Eliminated”but is now “Under control”had it was then specified.
Easter question
This is not the first time that the Pope will have appeared at the Gemelli hospital: on July 11, 2021, François had recited the prayer of the Angelus from the balcony of his apartment located on the tenth floor after a colon operation, in front of the faithful and journalists. In June 2023, after his operation as an abdominal hernia, he recited the angelus to the Gemelli in a private manner, without appearing on the balcony.
During his twenty-six years of pontificate (1978-2005), Pope John Paul II had also repeatedly recited the Angelus from the Gemelli, both by audio recordings and appearances on the balcony.
The disease and long hospitalization of the Pope raised questions about who could lead the program responsible for religious events leading to Easter, the most sacred period of the Christian calendar. The Vatican said on Wednesday that no final decision had yet been made in this regard. François is subject to respiratory illnesses and has undergone the removal of a part of a lung in his youth. Despite his recent improvements, the Vatican did not announce when he could get out of the hospital.
Source: Lemonde