“The Lord never abandons us and who in moments of pain puts us next to people who reflect a radius of his love”.
It is the fifth Sunday that the Angelus text is released in writing due to the hospitalization of Pope Francis At the Gemelli Polyclinic where he has been on the trees since February 14th for the bilateral pneumonia that hit him.
In the text, Pope Francis focuses on the Gospel of this second Sunday of Lent which, writes the Pontiff, “speaks to us of Transfiguration of Jesus. Roomed at the top of a mountain with Pietro, Giacomo and John, Jesus immerses himself in prayer and becomes radiant of light. So shows the disciples what is hidden behind the gestures that he performs in the midst of them: the light of his infinite love ».
The Pope writes to share “these thoughts while I am facing a trial period, and I join many brothers and sick sisters: Fragili, right now, like me. Our body is weak but, even so, nothing can prevent us from loving, praying, of giving ourselves, of being for each other, in faith, bright signs of hope. How much light “, reflects the Pope,” shines, in this sense, in hospitals and places of care! How much loving attention illuminates the rooms, the corridors, the clinics, the places where the most humble services take place! Therefore I would like to invite you, today, to give praise with me to the Lord, who never abandons us and who in moments of pain puts us next to people who reflect a radius of his love ».
Pope Francis returns to thank the faithful “for the prayers” of these days, and also thanks “those who attend me with so much dedication. I know », he writes,” that they pray for me many children; Some of them today came here to the “Gemelli” as a sign of closeness. Thanks, dear children! The Pope loves you and always wait to meet you».
About three hundred children present at noon, the traditional angelus hour, in the Gemelli Polyclinic square to bring a “symbolic caress”, as he said Father Enzo Fortunatopresident of the Pontifical Committee of the World Children’s Day, to the Pope hospitalized on the tenth plan. The little ones brought drawings and read their letters. There are also choirs that they call “Pope Francis, Pope Francis”. “Where is the Pope?” Asked the little ones, hoping for Francesco to look out.
The final appeal of the Pope’s Angelus is an invitation to continue praying for peace, “especially”, he underlines, “In the countries injured by the war: in the battered Ukraine, Palestine, Israel, Lebanon, Myanmar, Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Congo».
Francesco also invited to pray for the Church “called to translate the discernment made into the recent synodal assembly into concrete choices”, he writes, and this “I thank the General Secretariat of the Synod, which in the next three years will accompany the local churches in this commitment». A synodal route in various stages that the Pontiff approved on 11 March and that the general segregation of the Synod, Cardinal Grech, made known on Saturday with a letter sent to all the dioceses.
Meanwhile, the Pope’s clinical situation records “gradual improvements”, therapy and physiotherapy, both respiratory and motor, are producing positive effects. But Bergoglio has to remain in the hospital if he wants to consolidate these results and in any case the general situation remains complex. These, in summary, the news of the last medical bulletin released on Saturday evening from the Vatican press room.
It is a hospitalization that has lasted for over a month and could prolong for a long time, so much so that the next medical bulletin will be issued no earlier than half of next week, between Tuesday and Wednesday. Good news, a sign of the consolidated improvements of the Pope’s health, is that the medical staff who care for him at the Gemelli Polyclinic He is trying to reduce mechanical ventilation at night While, we always read in the last bulletin, “continues the oxygen therapy with high flows, gradually reducing the need for non -invasive mechanical ventilation at night. The Pope », the doctors underline,”still requires hospital medical therapy, motor and respiratory physiotherapy; such Therapies, at the State, record further, gradual improvements ».
