One week after Pope Francis was released from the hospital, having been admitted for a bout of bronchitis, the Vatican announced that he will not preside over the late-night Way of the Cross procession on Good Friday as planned due to cold weather.
One week after Pope Francis was released from the hospital, having been admitted for a bout of bronchitis, the Vatican announced that he will not preside over the late-night Way of the Cross procession on Good Friday as planned due to cold weather.
Wednesday of Holy Week, when Christians commemorate the betrayal of Jesus by the disciple Judas, also has the unusual name of Spy Wednesday.
While the dominant Vatican headline yesterday was Pope Francis’ triumphant return to form in the Palm Sunday liturgy after three days in Rome’s Gemelli Hospital for bronchitis, other tidbits, mostly in Sunday’s Italian press, have sort of flown below the radar.
Despite being discharged from the hospital just a day earlier, Pope Francis presided over an outdoor Palm Sunday Mass in a brisk St. Peter’s Square, telling believers to embrace those who feel abandoned as Jesus did on the cross.
“I’m still alive,” Pope Francis joked to reporters who asked how he was doing as he left Rome’s Gemelli hospital April 1.
Pope Francis used his third day at Rome’s Gemelli hospital to visit children hospitalized in the oncology ward and to confer the sacrament of baptism on a tiny infant named Miguel Angel.
The Vatican announced on Friday, March 31, that after spending two days in the hospital, and given his most recent test results, Pope Francis is doing well and is expected to return to the Vatican in time for Holy Week.
At the end of Pope Francis’ first full day in Rome’s Gemelli Hospital, where he is being treated for bronchitis, the Vatican said he is doing well and is responding to treatment, and spent his afternoon resting and in prayer.
The Vatican announced Thursday, March 30, that Pope Francis, after being admitted to the hospital the previous day for a respiratory infection, was showing signs of improvement and had spent the morning working and in prayer.
Catholic Church leaders around the country offered prayers for Pope Francis following the Vatican’s March 29 announcement that he would be hospitalized in Rome’s Gemelli Hospital for a few days to treat a respiratory infection.