Vatican starts nightly prayers for ‘slightly improved’ Pope

Rome: Pope Francis remained in critical condition on Monday (Tuesday AEDT) but showed a slight improvement in laboratory tests and resumed some work activities, including calling a parish in Gaza City that he has kept in touch with since the war there began, the Vatican said.

The Vatican’s evening bulletin was more upbeat than in recent days, as the 88-year-old battles pneumonia in both lungs. Francis hadn’t had any more respiratory crises since Saturday, the Vatican said, and the supplemental oxygen he was using continued, but with a slightly reduced oxygen flow and concentrations.

Worshippers recite the rosary for the Pope in St Peter’s Square at the Vatican on Monday night.Credit: AP

The slight kidney insufficiency detected on Sunday was not causing current alarm, doctors said, while saying his prognosis remained guarded.

Francis received the Eucharist in the morning and resumed working in the afternoon.

“In the evening, he called the parish priest of the Gaza parish to express his fatherly closeness,” the statement said.

For over a year, Francis has checked in daily via video call with the Argentine priest, the Reverend Gabriel Romanelli, who leads the Catholic community at the church, which, during Israel’s war, had served as a shelter for Palestinians.

Pope Francis presiding over a mass in 2023. He is now battling pneumonia in both lungs.Credit: AP

Romanelli had reported hearing from Francis soon after he was hospitalised, but not since. He had sent Francis a video, and the Pope called to thank him, the Vatican said.

Earlier on Monday, the Vatican announced the start of night prayers for the Pope’s health in St Peter’s Square, and invited Romans and others to join in. The Vatican No.2, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, led the first prayer.

Francis was in good spirits, was not in pain and was not receiving artificial nutrition, the Vatican said.

The work he was doing included reading and signing documents, and the Vatican’s daily noon bulletin has included new bishop nominations nearly every day, even though most appointments were decided in advance.

Well-wishers gather in St Peter’s Square at the Vatican to attend the first of nightly prayers for the Pope.Credit: AP

At the Gemelli Hospital, where Francis has been since February 14 after a bout of bronchitis worsened, the mood was nevertheless grim.

Bishop Claudio Giuliodori presided over an emotional, standing-room-only mass in the chapel named for St John Paul II, who was hospitalised there many times. Some of the estimated 200 people who attended were in white medical coats or green surgical scrubs; some knelt in prayer.

“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 Gemelli. “We are joining him with our prayers, but what else can we do?”

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 he faces is sepsis, a serious infection that can occur as a complication of pneumonia.

So far, there has been no reference to any onset of sepsis in the medical updates provided by the Vatican.

At 10 full days, this hospitalisation is Francis’ longest as Pope. He spent 10 days at the same hospital in 2021 after he had 33 centimetres of his colon removed.

AP

Get a note directly from our foreign correspondents on what’s making headlines around the world. Sign up for the weekly What in the World newsletter here.