VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis led the first of two major Holy Thursday ceremonies, presiding at Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica as he continues his stamina-testing Holy Week appointments days after battling bronchitis in the hospital.
Pope Francis blesses chrism oil contained in a jar during a Chrism Mass where the chrism, the oil of the catechumens and the oil of the sick are consecrated, and all the priests renew the promises made on the day of their ordination, inside St. Peter’s Basilica, at the Vatican, Thursday, April 6, 2023. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
The pope’s voice sounded strong during the basilica Mass as he read a long homily during the service, which was dedicated to the theme of the priesthood . Francis, who is 86, was discharged five days earlier from a Rome hospital, where he received antibiotics administered intravenously.
Inmates at a juvenile prison on Rome’s outskirts awaited the pontiff later in the day for Mass and the foot-washing ritual that commemorates the final supper of Jesus before crucifixion.
It is the same juvenile facility where Francis carried out the foot-washing — a powerful symbol of humility and priestly service to others — shortly after being elected pontiff in 2013.
From the start, Francis has used his papacy to stress attention to those living on society’s margins, including those in prison.
When the pope was released from the hospital on Saturday, the Vatican said Francis would carry out the complete Holy Week schedule, including the Good Friday late-night Way of the Cross procession at Rome’s Colosseum and Easter Sunday Mass in St. Peter’s Square.
At Thursday’s basilica Mass, dozens of rows of priests in simple white cassocks sat in front of rank-and-file Catholics in the packed church.
Francis used the homily as a pep talk to priests, after decades of scandals involving sex abuse of children by clergy caused many faithful to lose trust in their pastors.
The pope didn’t cite the scandals or church hierarchy coverups. But, he spoke of “crisis” affecting priests.
“Sooner or later, we all experience disappointment, frustration and our own weaknesses,″ Francis said. “Our ideals seem to recede in the face of reality, a certain force of habit takes over, and the difficulties that once seemed unimaginable appear to challenge our fidelity.”
The basilica ceremony traditionally includes the blessing of ointments and priests’ renewal of promises made when they were ordained to the priesthood.
Highlighting the spirit of renewal that the pope indicated the priesthood needs, added to the ointments at this year’s Mass was bergamot perfume that came from trees in southern Italy on land confiscated by authorities from mobsters.
In off-the-cuff remarks during the homily, Francis admonished priests not to “forget being pastors of the people.”
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis criticized laws that criminalize homosexuality as “unjust,” saying God loves all his children just as they are and called on Catholic bishops who support the laws to welcome LGBTQ people into the church.
FILE – In this May 21, 2015 file photo, Mauro Cioffari, left, puts a wedding ring on his partner Davide Conti’s finger as their civil union is being registered by a municipality officer during a ceremony in Rome’s Campidoglio Capitol Hill. In an interview with The Associated Press at The Vatican, Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2023, Pope Francis acknowledged that Catholic bishops in some parts of the world support laws that criminalize homosexuality or discriminate against the LGBTQ community, and he himself referred to homosexuality in terms of «sin.» But he attributed attitudes to cultural backgrounds and said bishops in particular need to undergo a process of change to recognize the dignity of everyone. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, file)
Francis acknowledged that Catholic bishops in some parts of the world support laws that criminalize homosexuality or discriminate against LGBTQ people, and he himself referred to the issue in terms of “sin.” But he attributed such attitudes to cultural backgrounds, and said bishops in particular need to undergo a process of change to recognize the dignity of everyone.
“These bishops have to have a process of conversion,” he said, adding that they should apply “tenderness, please, as God has for each one of us.”
Francis’ comments, which were hailed by gay rights advocates as a milestone, are the first uttered by a pope about such laws. But they are also consistent with his overall approach to LGBTQ people and belief that the Catholic Church should welcome everyone and not discriminate.
Some 67 countries or jurisdictions worldwide criminalize consensual same-sex sexual activity, 11 of which can or do impose the death penalty, according to The Human Dignity Trust, which works to end such laws. Experts say even where the laws are not enforced, they contribute to harassment, stigmatization and violence against LGBTQ people.
FILE — Models wear wedding dresses during «The rainbow wedding fashion show», with same-sex couples in Rome, in this Thursday, Oct. 23, 2014 file photo. In an interview with The Associated Press at The Vatican, Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2023, Pope Francis acknowledged that Catholic bishops in some parts of the world support laws that criminalize homosexuality or discriminate against the LGBTQ community, and he himself referred to homosexuality in terms of «sin.» But he attributed attitudes to cultural backgrounds and said bishops in particular need to undergo a process of change to recognize the dignity of everyone. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis, file)
In the U.S., more than a dozen states still have anti-sodomy laws on the books, despite a 2003 Supreme Court ruling declaring them unconstitutional. Gay rights advocates say the antiquated laws are used to justify harassment, and point to new legislation, such as the “Don’t say gay” law in Florida, which forbids instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third grade, as evidence of continued efforts to marginalize LGBTQ people.
The United Nations has repeatedly called for an end to laws criminalizing homosexuality outright, saying they violate rights to privacy and freedom from discrimination and are a breach of countries’ obligations under international law to protect the human rights of all people, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity.
FILE – Italian Arcigay gay rights association activists hold banners and flags during a demonstration in front of The Vatican, in this Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2009 file photo. In an interview with The Associated Press at The Vatican, Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2023, Pope Francis acknowledged that Catholic bishops in some parts of the world support laws that criminalize homosexuality or discriminate against the LGBTQ community, and he himself referred to homosexuality in terms of «sin.» But he attributed attitudes to cultural backgrounds and said bishops in particular need to undergo a process of change to recognize the dignity of everyone. (AP Photo/Sandro Pace, file)
Declaring such laws “unjust,” Francis said the Catholic Church can and should work to put an end to them. “It must do this. It must do this,” he said.
Francis quoted the Catechism of the Catholic Church in saying gay people must be welcomed and respected, and should not be marginalized or discriminated against.
“We are all children of God, and God loves us as we are and for the strength that each of us fights for our dignity,” Francis said, speaking to the AP in the Vatican hotel where he lives.
Francis’ remarks come ahead of a trip to Africa, where such laws are common, as they are in the Middle East. Many date from British colonial times or are inspired by Islamic law. Some Catholic bishops have strongly upheld them as consistent with Vatican teaching, while others have called for them to be overturned as a violation of basic human dignity.
In 2019, Francis had been expected to issue a statement opposing criminalization of homosexuality during a meeting with human rights groups that conducted research into the effects of such laws and so-called “conversion therapies.”
In the end, after word of the audience leaked, the pope didn’t meet with the groups. Instead, the Vatican No. 2 did and reaffirmed “the dignity of every human person and against every form of violence.”
Pope Francis speaks during an interview with The Associated Press at the Vatican, Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2023. Francis acknowledged that Catholic bishops in some parts of the world support laws that criminalize homosexuality or discriminate against the LGBTQ community, and he himself referred to homosexuality in terms of «sin.» But he attributed attitudes to culture backgrounds, and said bishops in particular need to undergo a process of change to recognize the dignity of everyone. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)
There was no indication that Francis spoke out about such laws now because his more conservative predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, recently died. The issue had never been raised in an interview, but Francis willingly responded, citing even the statistics about the number of countries where homosexuality is criminalized.
On Tuesday, Francis said there needed to be a distinction between a crime and a sin with regard to homosexuality. Church teaching holds that homosexual acts are sinful, or “intrinsically disordered,” but that gay people must be treated with dignity and respect.
Bantering with himself, Francis articulated the position: “It’s not a crime. Yes, but it’s a sin. Fine, but first let’s distinguish between a sin and a crime.”
“It’s also a sin to lack charity with one another,” he added.
Francis has not changed the church’s teaching, which has long riled gay Catholics. But he has made reaching out to LGBTQ people a hallmark of his papacy.
The pope’s comments didn’t specifically address transgender or nonbinary people, just homosexuality, but advocates of greater LGBTQ inclusion in the Catholic Church hailed the pope’s comments as a momentous advance.
“His historic statement should send a message to world leaders and millions of Catholics around the world: LGBTQ people deserve to live in a world without violence and condemnation, and more kindness and understanding,” said Sarah Kate Ellis, president and CEO of the U.S.-based advocacy group GLAAD.
New Ways Ministry, a Catholic LGBTQ advocacy group, said the church hierarchy’s silence on such laws until now had had devastating effects, perpetuating such policies and fueling violent rhetoric against LGBTQ people.
“The pope is reminding the church that the way people treat one another in the social world is of much greater moral importance than what people may possibly do in the privacy of a bedroom,” the group’s executive director, Francis DeBernardo, said in a statement.
One of the cardinals recently appointed by the pope – Robert McElroy, the bishop of San Diego — is among those Catholics who would like the church to go further, and fully welcome LGBTQ people into the church even if they are sexually active.
“It is a demonic mystery of the human soul why so many men and women have a profound and visceral animus toward members of the L.G.B.T. communities,” McElroy wrote Tuesday in the Jesuit magazine America. “The church’s primary witness in the face of this bigotry must be one of embrace rather than distance or condemnation.”
Starting with his famous 2013 declaration, “Who am I to judge?” — when he was asked about a purportedly gay priest — Francis has gone on to minister repeatedly and publicly to the gay and transgender communities. As archbishop of Buenos Aires, he favored granting legal protections to same-sex couples as an alternative to endorsing gay marriage, which Catholic doctrine forbids.
Despite such outreach, Francis was criticized by the Catholic gay community for a 2021 decree from the Vatican’s doctrine office that said the church cannot bless same-sex unions.
In 2008, the Vatican declined to sign onto a U.N. declaration that called for the decriminalization of homosexuality, complaining the text went beyond the original scope. In a statement at the time, the Vatican urged countries to avoid “unjust discrimination” against gay people and end penalties against them.
VATICAN CITY (AP) — The health of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI has worsened due to his age, and doctors are constantly monitoring the frail 95-year-old’s condition, the Vatican said Wednesday.
Vatican spokesperson Matteo Bruni said Pope Francis, who asked the faithful earlier Wednesday to pray for Benedict, went to visit his predecessor in the monastery on Vatican grounds where the retired pontiff has lived since retiring in February 2013.
“Regarding the health condition of the emeritus pope, for whom Pope Francis asked for prayers at the end of his general audience this morning, I can confirm that in the last hours, a worsening due to advanced age has happened,″ Bruni said in a written statement.
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“The situation at the moment remains under control, constantly monitored by doctors,” according to the statement.
At the end of his customary Wednesday audience with the public in a Vatican auditorium, Francis departed from his prepared remarks to say that Benedict is “very sick” and asked the faithful to pray for the retired pontiff.
Francis didn’t elaborate on Benedict’s condition.
“I would like to ask you all for a special prayer for Pope Emeritus Benedict, who is sustaining the church in silence,” Francis said. “Remember him — he is very ill — asking the Lord to console him and to sustain him in this testimony to love for the church, until the end.”
After the hour-long audience, “Pope Francis went to the Mater Ecclesiae monastery to visit Benedict XVI. Let us all unite with him in prayer for the emeritus pope,″ Bruni said.
Benedict, who was the first pontiff to resign in 600 years, has become increasingly frail in recent years as he dedicated his post-papacy life to prayer and meditation.
When Benedict turned 95 in April, his longtime secretary, Archbishop Georg Gaenswein, said the retired pontiff was in good spirits, adding that “naturally he is physically relatively weak and fragile, but rather lucid.”
Francis also paid a visit to Benedict at the monastery four months ago. The occasion was Francis’ latest ceremony elevating churchmen to cardinal rank, and the new “princes of the church” accompanied him to the monastery for the brief greeting.
The Vatican released a photo at the time that showed a very thin-looking Benedict clasping Francis’ hand as the current and past pontiff smiled at each other.
In his first years of retirement, Benedict attended a couple of cardinal-elevating ceremonies in St. Peter’s Basilica. But in recent years, he wasn’t strong enough to attend the long service.
He was elevated to cardinal’s rank in 1977 by the then-pontiff, Paul VI. As Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the German prelate and theologian long served as the Vatican’s doctrinal orthodox watchdog. He was elected pontiff in 2005.
Benedict startled a room full of Vatican prelates by announcing, in Latin, in February 2013 that he would step down as pope in two weeks. Some church traditionalists were dismayed by his decision.
Francis has praised Benedict’s decision as a courageous acknowledgement that physical frailty no longer left him able to fully serve the world’s 1.3 billion Catholics.
Given his own health history, including a knee ligament problem that has forced him to use a wheelchair or a cane, Francis has said that retirement is something he’d consider, if the situation warranted it.
In an interview earlier this month with Spanish newspaper ABC, Francis revealed that shortly after fellow cardinals elected him to succeed Benedict in the papacy, he wrote a resignation letter to have on hand in case medical problems impeded him from carrying out his duties.
But in the same interview, Francis played down his mobility challenge, saying one governs with the head, not the knee.
In Benedict’s native Germany, the head of that nation’s bishops’ conference, Limburg Bishop Georg Baetzing, joined in Francis’ call for prayers.
“My thoughts are with the emeritus pope,” Baetzing told German news agency dpa. “I call on the faithful in Germany to pray for Benedict XVI.”
In Berlin, Chancellor Olaf Scholz “wishes the German pope, as we say, a good recovery and his thoughts are with him,” government spokesperson Christiane Hoffmann said during a regular government news conference.
ROME (AP) — Pope Francis celebrated Christmas Eve Mass before an estimated 2,000 people in St. Peter’s Basilica on Friday, going ahead with the service despite the resurgence in COVID-19 cases that has prompted a new vaccine mandate for Vatican employees.
A maskless Francis processed down the central aisle as the Sistine Chapel choir sang “Noel,” kicking off the Vatican’s Christmas holiday that commemorates the birth of Jesus in a manger in Bethlehem. He remained maskless throughout the service.
In his homily, Francis urged the faithful to focus on the “littleness” of Jesus, and remember that he came into the world poor, without even a proper crib.
“That is where God is, in littleness,” Francis said. “This is the message: God does not rise up in grandeur, but lowers himself into littleness. Littleness is the path that he chose to draw near to us, to touch our hearts, to save us and to bring us back to what really matters.”
Attendance on Friday was limited to about 2,000 people, far more than the 200 allowed in 2020 when Italy was in a full Christmas lockdown. But the number is a fraction of the capacity of St. Peter’s, which can seat up to 20,000 and in pre-pandemic times would be packed for one of the most popular Vatican liturgies of the year.
The “Midnight Mass” actually began at 7:30 p.m., a nod to the 85-year-old pope’s endurance and a hold-over from last year, when the service had to end before Italy’s nationwide COVID-19 curfew.
No curfew is in place this year, but cases this week have surged even beyond 2020 levels. For the second day in a row, Italy on Friday set a new pandemic daily record with 50,599 new cases. Another 141 people died, bringing Italy’s official death toll to 136,386.
With the arrival of the omicrom variant in Italy, the Vatican secretary of state on Thursday imposed a new vaccine mandate on all Vatican staff, extending it to all employees except those who have recovered from the coronavirus. Previously, only employees who dealt with the public directly had to be vaccinated, such as staff at the Vatican Museums and the Swiss Guards, while others could access their offices with regular testing.
The mandate does not apply to the faithful attending Mass, but they are required to wear masks. Those attending Friday’s Mass, and the priests, bishops and cardinals concelebrating it, all wore masks. Francis, who is missing part of one lung and had intestinal surgery in July, has largely eschewed masks, even when greeting prelates and the general public.
“I’m not worried because first of all I have a mask on, and I’ve had my third dose so I feel relaxed,” said Franco Pasquali, a Rome resident attending the service. “The problem is those who don’t vaccinate, that’s all.”
Francis is believed to have received the third booster shot, as has emeritus Pope Benedict XVI. Francis has said vaccination is an “act of love” and he has called for wealthier countries to provide the shots to the developing world.
Among those attending the Mass was Melissa Helland, an American tourist visiting Rome with her family.
“This is the first time in the last two years that we’ve been able to gather both as a family and to attend Mass because of the pandemic, so we are very excited and grateful,” she said before the service began.
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Francesco Sportelli and Luigi Navarro contributed from Vatican City.
Messages of felicitation pour in as the Holy Father turns 85 on Friday. Cardinal Michael Czerny reflects on how some of the issues he champions give us an insight into his personality and in particular on his invitation to passionately engage in the synodal process.
By Benedict Mayaki, SJ
Pope Francis turns 85 on Friday. Just last Monday, 13 December, he celebrated the 52nd anniversary of his priestly ordination.
People across the world, and certainly not only Catholics, are celebrating with the Pope on the occasion of his birthday, with messages of good wishes pouring in from all different quarters.
Also felicitating the Pope on his birthday is Cardinal Michael Czerny, a fellow Jesuit and the under-secretary of the Migrants and Refugees Section of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development. He highlights the gift that a birthday is.
“The 17th of December is a day worth reflecting on,” the Cardinal says, adding that the Holy Father must have already had retirement plans when he went into the conclave that elected him Pope in 2013, but “the Holy Spirit decided differently.”
“The intervening years are a free gift – gratuitous,» Cardinal Czerny notes, “I think that highlights our feelings, which is that we can only be very grateful.”
“Ad multos annos!” Cardinal Czerny says, wishing the Pope many more years to come.
Pope Francis and his gift to the Church
The Cardinal also reflected on Pope Francis’s pontificate, the important themes that he champions and how they give us an insight into his personality.
Cardinal Czerny points out that the recently-launched Synod on synodality sums up many of the cares and concerns of the Holy Father, because it is “the most hopeful notion you could have about the Church.”
“I think this is [the Pope’s] gift to the Church,” the Cardinal says, “A way of being Church that brings us together toward hope in faith and in love for one another.”
Michael Czerny also thinks of his personal experiences of meeting with the Pope, saying that he has been most struck by Pope Francis’s “equilibrium, balance and serenity”, which enables him to handle both big and small issues with equanimity.
With the Pope, he explains, “a big problem does not rattle him and a small problem does not get neglected. That kind of balance – a dynamic balance – is very edifying and makes me very happy whenever we have had the chance to meet.”
Pope Francis was born on 17 December 1936 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. This year, he celebrated his 8th anniversary as the head of the Church.
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Pope Francis ended his visit to Greece on Monday by encouraging its young people to follow their dreams and not be tempted by the consumerist “sirens” of today that promise easy pleasures.
Francis briefly struggled to keep his balance on the steps while boarding the plane bound for Rome when caught by a gust of wind, and was helped on board by an aide.
Earlier, Francis met with students at a Catholic school in Athens in his final event of a five-day visit to Cyprus and Greece that has been dominated by his concern for the plight of migrants seeking entry to Europe.
He echoed a common theme he has raised with young people, encouraging them to stay fast in their faith, even amid doubts, and resist the temptation to pursue materialist goals. He cited Homer’s epic poem “The Odyssey” and the temptation posed by the sirens who “by their songs enchanted sailors and made them crash against the rocks.”
“Today’s sirens want to charm you with seductive and insistent messages that focus on easy gains, the false needs of consumerism, the cult of physical wellness, of entertainment at all costs,” he said. “All these are like fireworks: they flare up for a moment, but then turn to smoke in the air.”
Two immigrant students were among those who greeted the pope, including an 18-year-old Syrian refugee, Aboud Gabro, who told the pope of his family’s escape from Aleppo in 2014 after a bomb exploded on their home. They finally arrived in Greece after a perilous boat crossing from Turkey.
“It was hard being on a rock without water or food, waiting for dawn and and a coast guard ship to come save us,” Gabro said.
Francis listened to his story, “a true modern-day odyssey,” and expressed gratitude that he and his family had made it safely after “so many refusals and a thousand difficulties, you landed in this country.” But he suggested it also showed a sense of adventure and people following their dreams.
“The meaning of life is not found by staying on the beach waiting for the wind to bring something new. Salvation lies in the open sea, in setting sail, in the quest, in the pursuit of dreams, real dreams, those we pursue with eyes open, those that involve effort, struggles, headwinds, sudden storms,” he said. “So don’t be paralyzed by fear: dream big! And dream together!”
Francis is returning to the Vatican with some important pre-Christmas events on his agenda: a scheduled meeting with the members of a French commission that investigated sexual abuse in the French Catholic Church, a scheduled meeting with Canadian Indigenous peoples seeking a papal apology for abuses at Catholic-run residential schools, and Francis’ own 85th birthday on Dec. 17.
ROME (AP) — Pope Francis ate breakfast, read the newspapers and took a walk Tuesday as he continued recovering from intestinal surgery, the Vatican said.
A statement from the Vatican spokesman, Matteo Bruni, said tests performed following the pontiff’s Sunday surgery to remove half of his colon yielded “good” and normal result,.
“His Holiness Pope Francis rested well during the night,” Bruni said. “This morning he had breakfast, read some newspapers and got up to walk. The post-operative recovering is regular. Routine control tests are good.”
Francis, 84, underwent three hours of surgery Sunday for what the Vatican said was a narrowing of the large intestine. The Vatican said doctors removed the left side of his colon.
He is expected to stay in Rome’s Gemelli Polyclinic, which has a special suite reserved for popes, through the week, assuming no complications.
The Vatican has given few details about the pope’s diagnosis or the procedure he underwent, saying only that he had entered the hospital for planned surgery for a diverticular stenosis, or narrowing of the colon.
It’s a common problem that affects some 80% of people over age 80 but can require surgery if the lining of the colon becomes so scarred that it begins to obstruct it, said Dr. Yann Parc, head of staff at the Saint Antoine Hospital in Paris. Parc was not involved in the pope’s care.
The surgery generally entails removing the left side of the colon and then joining up the remaining healthy parts of the large intestine.
“It looks like the pope had this pathology, and understandably the Italian surgeons have removed that part and stitched it to the rectum to recreate a normal digestive transit,” Parc said.
Doctors have said a risk of the operation is that the connection between the joined-up parts of the colon can sometimes fail, causing more pain and possibly an infection. Such a failure is very rare and would require another surgery.
Francis has enjoyed relatively robust health, though he lost the upper part of one lung in his youth due to an infection. He also suffers from sciatica, or nerve pain, that makes him walk with a pronounced limp.
He had a busy schedule in the run-up to Sunday’s surgery, including participating in a daylong July 1 meeting with Lebanon’s Christian patriarchs, suggesting he was not in excruciating pain before the procedure.
Francis’ next routine appointment with the public would normally be on Sunday, July 11. He customarily appears on Sundays at a window overlooking St. Peter’s Square, blesses the faithful below and speaks for a few minutes, often about current events.
If he remains hospitalized, Francis might opt to do what one of his predecessors did while recovering at Gemelli. During some of his many stays there, St. John Paul II sometimes appeared at his hospital room’s window to wave and bless well-wishers gathered outside.
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AP visual journalist Jeffrey Schaeffer contributed from Paris.
ROME (AP) — The Vatican said Monday that Pope Francis is “in good condition, alert” and breathing on his own, a day after he underwent a three-hour operation that involved removing half his colon.
Francis, 84, is expected to stay in Rome’s Gemelli Polyclinic, a Catholic hospital, for about seven days “barring complications,” Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said.
The brief medical bulletin contained the first details the Vatican released, coming more than 12 hours after the end of Sunday’s surgery. The procedure was necessitated by what the Holy See said was a diverticular stenosis, or narrowing the pope’s sigmoid portion of the large intestine.
“His Holy Father is in good, general condition, alert and breathing spontaneously,” Bruni said in a written statement. “The operation for the diverticular stenosis, performed during the evening of July 4, involved a left hemicolectomy and lasted for about three hours,” Bruni said.
That procedure generally entails removing the left side of the colon and attaching the remaining parts of the large intestine. But the Vatican didn’t elaborate.
Francis was spending his first morning convalescing in a Rome hospital following the surgery on the left side of his large intestine.
Before Monday’s statement, the Vatican had given scant details about the operation.
Earlier, an Italian cardinal told reporters he had been informed that Francis was doing OK post-operatively.
“Our prayer and our closeness are very great,” Cardinal Enrico Feroci said at Rome’s airport where he was catching a flight. The Italian news agency ANSA quoted him as saying that he had heard earlier in the morning from another cardinal, Angelo De Donatis, “and he told me that the pope is well.” De Donatis is the vicar of the Rome diocese.
Francis is staying in special, 10th floor suite that the hospital keeps available for use by a pontiff, after Pope John Paul II stayed there several times for various medical problems.
When the Vatican announced on Sunday afternoon that Francis had been admitted to hospital for a planned operation, it said that he needed surgery because he had developed a narrowing of the sigmoid portion of the large intestine.
Without citing sources, Rome daily Il Messaggero reported that “complications” arose during the surgery. Without specifying what happened, the newspaper said that the surgeons, after starting to operate via laparoscopy, ended up having to do incisions.
The Vatican statement made no reference to that report or to any “complications.”
Laparoscopy is a kind of surgical procedure often dubbed “keyhole surgery” since it allows the surgeon access to the inside of the abdomen without requiring large incisions. In the kind of surgery the Vatican said the pope was getting, laparoscopy is commonly used, experts have said.
Patients having laparoscopic surgery generally require shorter hospital stays.
Twice daily updates on Francis’ condition were expected to be issued by the Vatican.
Doctors not connected to the pope’s hospitalization have said it is common to perform a re-sectioning of the affected part of the bowel in such cases.
Get-well messages continued to arrive for the pope. Italian Premier Mario Draghi’s office said the leader “expresses affectionate wishes for a rapid convalescence and quick healing.”
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis went to a Rome hospital on Sunday for scheduled surgery on his large intestine, the Vatican said. The news came just three hours after Francis had cheerfully greeted the public in St. Peter’s Square and told them he will go to Hungary and Slovakia in September.
The brief announcement from the Holy See’s press office didn’t say exactly when the surgery would be performed at the Gemelli Polyclinic, a Catholic teaching hospital, but said there would be an announcement when the surgery is complete.
The Vatican said the 84-year-old pope had been diagnosed with “symptomatic diverticular stenosis of the colon,” a reference to a narrowing in the large intestine. The surgery was to be performed by Dr. Sergio Alfieri, the director of Gemelli’s digestive surgery department.
A week earlier, Francis had used his same Sunday appearance to ask the public for special prayers for himself, which, in hindsight, might have hinted at the planned surgery.
“I ask you to pray for the pope, pray in a special way,” Francis had asked the faithful in the square on June 27. “The pope needs your prayers,” he said, adding his thanks and saying “I know you will do that.”
Francis is in generally good health, but did have part of one lung removed as a young man. He also suffers from sciatica, occasionally having painful bouts of the condition in which a nerve affects the lower back and leg. That has forced him at times to skip scheduled appearances.
The pope had a particularly demanding set of appointments last week, including celebrating a Mass on Tuesday to mark the Catholic feast day honoring Saints Peter and Paul, and later in the week, presiding at a special prayer service for Lebanon. On June 28, he also had a long private audience at the Vatican with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Throughout all those engagements, Francis appeared to be in good spirits.
Gemelli doctors have performed surgery before on papal patients, including on Pope John Paul II, who had a benign tumor in his colon removed in 1992.
Pope Francis is usually the star at Vatican gatherings
While Pope Francis is usually the star at Vatican gatherings, Spider-Man, or at least an Italian who dresses up like the character, was the attention-grabber among the public lined up in rows during the pontiff’s weekly Wednesday audience.
Matteo Villardita, 28, dons the comic-book and movie super-hero outfit to cheer up hospitalized children, like those at the Vatican’s pediatric hospital which he planned to visit later on Wednesday.
Sweating under his costume in Rome’s heat wave, Villardita said he asked Pope Francis to pray for the children and their families.
The man told AP TV that he gave Francis a spare mask, “as a sign, to tell him that through these eyes I daily see pain from sick children in hospitals.”
Villardita, with a costumed arm, patted Francis, who wore no mask against COVID-19, on the back as he greeted the pontiff.
Said Villardita: “It was very exciting because Pope Francis immediately understood my mission.”
Villardita took selfies with youngsters attending the audience in a Vatican courtyard.
The Vatican described Villardita as «really a good super-hero” and quoted him as saying that during Italy’s long months of pandemic lockdown he made more than 1,400 videocalls, since he wasn’t able to visit in person, to help ailing children smile.
