Pope Francis was hospitalized July 4 and underwent surgery on his sigmoid colon, the lowest part of the large intestine, the Vatican press office said. “The Holy Father reacted well to the surgery, which was conducted under general anesthesia,” the press office said in a note issued just before midnight.
The Vatican confirmed on July 4 that Pope Francis was taken to A. Gemelli Policlinic in Rome for a scheduled surgery for symptomatic diverticular stenosis of the colon.
After a day of prayer and reflection with Lebanon’s Christian leaders, Pope Francis urged political leaders in the country to set aside partisan interests that have devastated the country.
“Abana alathie,” Pope Francis intoned in Arabic as he led nine Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant leaders from Lebanon in praying the Lord’s Prayer before St. Peter’s tomb.
God loves all his children, “each and every one,” Pope Francis said in a letter Jesuit Father James Martin read to people participating in the Outreach LGBTQ Ministry webinar.
On Monday U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken enjoyed a private visit to the Sistine Chapel before sitting down to a closed-door meeting with Pope Francis as part of a broader tour of Europe.
After the trip was announced, the Iraqi Parliamentary Assembly voted unanimously to declare Christmas an annual national holiday, and Salih ratified a law benefiting Yazidi survivors of the 2014-2017 ISIS genocide. Both of those developments happened months before Pope Francis boarded the Papal plane. However, months removed from the trip, experts say nothing has changed.
Pope Francis has named U.S. Cardinals Joseph W. Tobin of Newark, New Jersey, and James M. Harvey, archpriest of Rome’s Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, to be members of the Vatican’s supreme court.
Writing to his peers, Catholics who have reached a venerable age like he has, Pope Francis told older Catholics that God is close to them and still has plans for their lives.
Catholic Charities of Brooklyn and Queens has formed Laudato Si Corporation, a green-energy initiative to generate renewable energy with arrays of solar photovoltaic panels mounted on the rooftops of residential buildings throughout the diocese.
