Vatican to hold daily evening prayers for health of pope in St Peter’s Square
Pope Francis has been in hospital since February 14 after a bout of bronchitis worsened.
The Vatican has announced the start of night-time prayers for the health of Pope Francis in St Peter’s Square as the 88-year-old pontiff battles a complex lung infection and other complications.
The Vatican’s No 2, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, will lead the first prayer on Monday evening.
The announcement immediately brought to mind the night-time candlelit vigils in the piazza that preceded the death of John Paul II in 2005.
Francis, who has double pneumonia and the early stages of kidney insufficiency, was awake and in good spirits on Monday. He is not in pain and is not receiving artificial nutrition, the Vatican said.
“The night passed well, the pope slept and is resting,” it said.
At the Gemelli hospital, where Francis has been since February 14 after a bout of bronchitis worsened, Bishop Claudio GiulioDori presided over an emotional, standing room-only Mass in the chapel named after John Paul.
“We are very sorry. Pope Francis is a good pope, let’s hope that he makes it. Let us hope,” said a choked-up Filomena Ferraro, who was visiting a relative at the hospital on Monday.
Late on Sunday, doctors reported that Francis remained in a critical condition but that he had not experienced any further respiratory crises since Saturday. Blood tests showed “early, slight kidney insufficiency” that was nevertheless under control.
Francis was receiving high flows of supplemental oxygen and, on Sunday, was alert, responsive and attended Mass.
Doctors have said Francis’ condition is touch-and-go, given his age, fragility and pre-existing lung disease. They have warned that the main threat facing Francis is sepsis, a serious infection of the blood that can occur as a complication of pneumonia.
To date there has been no reference to any onset of sepsis in the medical updates provided by the Vatican.
At 10 days, the hospital stay now stands as Francis’ longest as pope. He spent 10 days at Rome’s Gemelli hospital in 2021 after he had 13 inches of his colon removed.
In New York on Sunday, Cardinal Timothy Dolan acknowledged what church leaders in Rome were not saying publicly: that the Catholic faithful were united “at the bedside of a dying father”.
“As our Holy Father Pope Francis is in very, very fragile health, and probably close to death,” he said in his homily from the pulpit of St Patrick’s Cathedral, though he later told reporters he hoped and prayed that Francis would “bounce back”.
