VATICAN CITY (CNS) — On his 21st day in Rome’s Gemelli hospital, Pope Francis recorded a 27-second audio message thanking people for their prayers. Played before the nightly recitation of the rosary in St. Peter’s Square March 6, the pope said, “I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your prayers for my…
WASHINGTON – “As Catholics in a global Church, we witness to the power of God’s love through our presence and assistance to those who are vulnerable,” said Bishop A. Elias Zaidan, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on International Justice and Peace. Bishop Zaidan encouraged the faithful to remember the vulnerable around…
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis marked Ash Wednesday on his 20th day in Rome’s Gemelli hospital by taking part in the rite of the blessing of the ashes and receiving them in a short prayer service, the Vatican said. While the 88-year-old pope’s overall clinical case remained complex, his condition was “stable” and he…
ROME (CNS) — The journey of Lent “unfolds amid the remembrance of our fragility and the hope that, at the end of the road, the Risen Lord is waiting for us,” Pope Francis wrote in his homily for Ash Wednesday. “Indeed, the ashes help to remind us that our lives are fragile and insignificant: we…
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis has not had any further respiratory crises a day after he experienced two of them, the Vatican said, and his condition remained “stable.” The 88-year-old pope “presented no episodes of respiratory insufficiency or bronchospasm,” the Vatican said in its evening medical bulletin March 4. He remained without fever, was…
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis suffered “two episodes of acute respiratory insufficiency” March 3 but remained alert, the Vatican said, giving cause for concern after two days in which his condition was described as “stable.” The episodes of respiratory distress were “caused by significant accumulation of endobronchial mucus and subsequent bronchospasm,” the Vatican said…