‘He looks at you as a human being’: Townsville prays for the Pope

As Pope Francis remains under close watch in hospital, Townsville Bishop Tim Harris said the diocese was praying for the man who once told him: “you can ask me anything”.

People pray at the statue of John Paul II outside the Gemelli hospital where Pope Francis is hospitalised for pneumonia. (Photo by Alberto PIZZOLI / AFP)

As Pope Francis remains under close watch in hospital, Townsville diocese Bishop Tim Harris said the diocese was praying for the man who once told him: “you can ask me anything”.

“Pope Francis was the Pope who appointed me as bishop,” Bishop Harris said.

“I’ve met him a number of times. He’s an 88-year-old with one and a half lungs … the bronchitis (in 2023) created some scarring in the lungs and he’s been in a wheelchair for a while.”

Pope Francis was taken to Rome’s Gemelli hospital on February 14, Valentine’s Day, after experiencing difficulties breathing, and was diagnosed with pneumonia in both lungs.

The Pope is prone to lung infections due to having part of his lung removed at age 21 due to pleurisy.

2023: Pope Francis at the Funeral mass for former Australian Cardinal George Pell, who he demoted in 2018. Photo: Victor Sokolowicz,

News also broke very recently of blood tests confirming early kidney failure.

Bishop Harris said he was following the Pope’s condition and trying to “walk with him from a distance”.

“I pray that he pulls through, but it’s not my decision, it’s in God’s hands,” Bishop Harris said.

“The Holy Father went to places others were not prepared to go. He says things people are not prepared to say. He is a man of the gospel and he walks in Jesus’s shoes.”

2013: Argentina's Jorge Bergoglio, elected Pope Francis I, appears at the window of St Peter's Basilica's balcony after being elected the 266th pope of the Roman Catholic Church. AFP PHOTO/OSSERVATORE ROMANO"

Pope Francis has been at the head of the Catholic Church for 12 years and is known for his focus on the poor and efforts to modernise the church by addressing climate change, recognising LGBTIQ people, his historical apologies to survivors of clergy sexual abuse, and more.

He is the first pope to be from a non-European country since the 8th century, the first pope to ever speak to a session of the United States Congress, the first pope to come from the southern hemisphere, and in 2019 he became the first pope to ever visit the Arabian Peninsula.

2021: Pope Francis in the northern city of Mosul during his historic Iraq tour. (Photo by Vincenzo PINTO / AFP)

In 2021, Pope Francis visited Iraq and paid homage at Najaf, a holy shrine for Shiite Muslims, and in 2015 he held an open-air Mass in Manila that drew up to seven million rain-drenched believers - a world record for a papal event.

Speaking with the Townsville Bulletin returning from Ingham, Bishop Harris said Pope Francis believed in not judging people and “not closing doors on people”.

Townsville diocese Bishop Tim Harris said the Pope was always saying to the world: ‘there is a better way’.

“He expects his bishops and priests to get their shoes dirty,” Bishop Harris said.

“If he was a priest here he’d be in Ingham helping … I’ve just been talking to flood victims and visiting their homes. We brought up fridges and washing machines to help them but so many people said ‘it’s OK, there are others worse off than me’. Some took the donations, other’s didn’t. All you can do is offer.”

2024: Pope Francis arrives at the basilica of Saint John Lateran for a diocesan assembly (Photo by Alberto PIZZOLI / AFP)

Bishop Harris said he first met Pope Francis seven years ago and described him as a man who “puts you at ease, there are no airs and graces”.

“When you become a Bishop you are sent to ‘Baby Bishop’ school in Rome for two weeks and you get to meet him,” he said.

“You don’t have long with him, but he looks you in the eye and he looks at you as a human being. I remember saying to him ‘thankyou Holy Father for your leadership’ and he said ‘pray for me’.”

Bishop Harris said the Pope once addressed an Australian contingent of bishops by saying: “the toilets are over there, and do you want water?”

“That was how he greeted the Australian bishops, and he told us ‘you can ask me anything you want’,” Bishop Harris said.

“He knows none of us have it all together, we are all struggling with a lot of things … he is prepared to see them.”

Originally published as ‘He looks at you as a human being’: Townsville prays for the Pope