A general view taken from the cupola of St Peter's basilica shows St Peter's square and Via della Conciliazione, in The Vatican. AFP
Francis’s weak voice, discernable through his laboured breaths and in his native Spanish, was broadcast to the faithful in St. Peter’s Square who had gathered for the nightly recitation of the rosary prayer.
“I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your prayers for my health from the square. I accompany you from here,” he said, his soft voice piercing the hushed square. “May God bless you and the Virgin protect you. Thank you.”
The Vatican said Francis continued respiratory and other physical therapy Thursday, worked, rested and prayed from the 10th-floor papal suite at Rome's Gemelli hospital.
The pope has been sleeping with a non-invasive mechanical mask to guarantee that his lungs expand properly overnight and help his recovery. He has been transitioning to receiving high-flow oxygen with a nasal tube during the day. His routine now includes physical therapy, along with treatment for double pneumonia and respiratory therapy, Vatican officials said.
The 88-year-old pope, who has chronic lung disease and had part of one lung removed as a young man, has been stable for three full days after suffering a pair of respiratory crises Monday.
The Vatican said the evening Rosary prayer for Francis would be presided over by Cardinal Ángel Fernández Artime, the deputy official in charge of the Vatican’s department for religious orders. The department is headed by Sister Simona Brambilla, the first-ever nun named as prefect of a major Holy See office. But when Francis appointed her in January, he simultaneously named Artime as “pro-prefect” in a sign that he foresaw there were some functions that only an ordained priest could perform.
The pope has been sleeping with a non-invasive mechanical mask to guarantee that his lungs expand properly overnight and help his recovery. He has been transitioning to receiving high-flow oxygen with a nasal tube during the day. His routine now includes physical therapy, along with treatment for double pneumonia and respiratory therapy, Vatican officials said.
The pope was supposed to attend a spiritual retreat this weekend with the rest of the Holy See hierarchy. On Tuesday, the Vatican said the retreat would go ahead without Francis but in “spiritual communion” with him. The theme, selected before Francis got sick, was “Hope in eternal life.”
Short link: