ROME – After showing a slight improvement in his overall condition, which doctors say remains critical, Pope Francis continues to rest as daily prayers and liturgies are being offered throughout the world for his recovery.
A Feb. 25 Vatican statement said that after showing a slight improvement in his clinical condition the day before, “the pope rested well, the whole night.”
Pope Francis has been in critical condition at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital since Saturday, when he experienced a major respiratory crisis as he battles a complex infection of the respiratory tract, and double pneumonia.
He remains on high-flow oxygen, though doctors in the past 24 hours have been able to lower the flow and concentration, and on Saturday received two units of concentrated red blood cells to treat an anemia that doctors said has improved.
Initial signs of kidney failure that doctors described as being “under control” remain but were not a concern for the pope’s medical team as of Monday.
Francis was admitted to the Gemelli Hospital Feb. 14, and was expected to stay for at least two weeks, however, given his latest crisis, doctors have given no indication on how long he might remain in the hospital, and they have hesitated to give an overall prognosis, which for now remains “guarded.”
In the meantime, Catholics and church hierarchs throughout the world have rallied in prayer to support the ailing pontiff, organizing daily Masses, rosaries, and hours of adoration for his intentions.
During an openair Mass celebrated Monday in the Plaza Constitución in Buenos Aires, attended by hundreds of people, Archbishop Jorge Garcia Cuerva, the pope’s successor as shepherd of the archdiocese, prayed in his homily, “may our prayer be that breath of fresh air that arrives to his lungs.”
A rosary led by the Vatican’s Secretary of State, Italian Cardinal Pietro Parolin, and attended by 27 cardinals residing in Rome as well as various curial officials and crowds of faithful, was held Monday night in a wet and rainy St. Peter’s Square.
Cardinal Baldassare Reina, the vicar of Rome, celebrated Mass Feb. 23 for Pope Francis’s health and recovery at the Roman Basilica of St. John Lateran, and he will celebrate Mass Tuesday at the church of Santa Maria Addolorata in Rome’s Piazza Buenos Aires, together with the expat Argentinian community residing in Rome.
At Rome’s Gemelli Hospital, since Monday, Feb. 24, an hour of Eucharistic adoration from 12-1 p.m. followed by Mass have been organized daily in the facility’s John Paul II chapel, and a daily afternoon rosary has been said at the marble statue of John Paul II that stands at the hospital’s main entrance at 4:30 p.m. local time.
A second daily afternoon Mass, also for Pope Francis’s health and recovery, is being celebrated at a separate chapel at the Gemelli, at 5p.m., following the recitation of the rosary.
Faithful are invited to participate in the Masses and rosary, while those who are unable to have been invited to pray for the pope, reciting the prayer, “Lord Jesus, Redeemer of the world, who has taken upon yourself all of our pains and carried all our sufferings in your passion, hear our prayer that we raise to you for our infirmed brother: give him courage and revive his hope so that he may be relieved in body and in spirit.”
On Wednesday, Feb. 26, Reina will preside over the 1 p.m. daily Mass for Pope Francis at Gemelli’s John Paul II chapel.
Pope Francis, while resuming some work activities, has not been receiving visitors the past few days. It is unclear whether or not he will receive Reina after his Mass on Wednesday.
Follow Elise Ann Allen on X: @eliseannallen
