Pope Francis and children in hospital exchange greetings

Courtney Mares   By Courtney Mares for CNA

July 10, 2021 Catholic News Agency News Briefs 0 Print

A get well card for Pope Francis from Giulia, a girl treated in Bambino Gesu Hospital. / Vatican Media

Rome, Italy, Jul 10, 2021 / 05:00 am (CNA).

During his hospitalization, Pope Francis has exchanged affectionate messages with the young patients in the nearby pediatric oncology and children’s neurosurgery wards, according to the Vatican.

The pope, who has been recovering from intestinal surgery in Gemelli University Hospital this week, also received handwritten get well cards from children staying in other hospitals in Rome.

“Dear Pope Francis, feel my prayer like I felt yours when I was sick,” wrote a girl named Giulia, who has undergone treatment at the Vatican-owned Bambino Gesù Pediatric Hospital.

Below the message, Giulia drew a picture of her holding Pope Francis’ hand while he is in a hospital bed.

Another card from children in the Gemelli polyclinic had a colored pencil drawing of the pope and inside the message said: “Dear Pope Francis, we know that you are not very well and that you are now in the same hospital as us. Even if we cannot see each other, we send you a strong hug and we wish you to get well soon.”

Card for Pope Francis from Children in Gemelli Hospital July 2021 / Vatican Media
Card for Pope Francis from Children in Gemelli Hospital July 2021 / Vatican Media

Pope Francis was hospitalized on July 4 to undergo an operation to relieve stricture of the colon caused by diverticulitis, a common condition that involves the formation of small bulges or sacs on the wall of the colon.

Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said July 5 that the pope was expected to spend seven days recovering in the hospital, “barring complications.”

“At this particular moment, [Pope Francis] looks toward all those who suffer, expressing his closeness to the sick, especially those most in need of care,” Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said in one of the Holy See’s daily health bulletins.

In the latest health update released July 10, the Vatican said that the pope’s clinical progress is as “expected” and that “his blood tests are satisfactory.”

“He is gradually resuming work and continues to stroll in the corridor of the apartment,” Bruni said.

“In the afternoon, he celebrated Holy Mass in the private chapel and in the evening he dined with those who have been assisting him during these days.”

A 10-person medical team was involved in Francis’ surgery, which was carried out under general anesthesia, lasted about three hours and included a left hemicolectomy, the removal of one side of the colon.

This is Francis’ first major operation during his pontificate. In 2019, he had an outpatient surgery for cataracts and he occasionally suffers from flare-ups of sciatic pain.

The Vatican has announced that Pope Francis will lead the noon Angelus prayer from his hospital room on Sunday.

/ Courtney Mares/CNA.
/ Courtney Mares/CNA.

Pope Francis is staying on the 10th floor of the Gemelli polyclinic in a wing reserved for papal medical emergencies.

The Catholic hospital and medical school has treated other popes and Catholic figures, including John Paul II after he was shot in an assassination attempt and Mother Teresa, who was treated in the clinic’s cardiology department.

“The Holy Father, experiencing first-hand the human dedication of the medical and health personnel assisting him, has addressed a special thought to all those who with care and compassion choose the face of suffering, engaging in a personal relationship with the sick, especially the most fragile and vulnerable,” the Vatican spokesman said.

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CUA panel: Prenatal testing poses unique threat to preborn children with Down syndrome

March 21, 2024 Catholic News Agency 1
Carissa Carroll, pictured with her son Jack, founded the nonprofit organization Jack’s Basket to celebrate babies with Down syndrome / Credit: Screenshot/EWTN Pro-Life Weekly

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Mar 21, 2024 / 09:00 am (CNA).

As many countries celebrate World Down Syndrome Day on March 21, a panel of pro-life leaders and scholars is calling attention to the threat that prenatal testing poses to preborn children who are diagnosed with Down syndrome in the womb.

“[The mother] often faces tremendous internal and external pressure to undergo an abortion,” said J.D. Flynn, who moderated the panel at the Catholic University of America’s Institute for Human Ecology and is himself the father of two children with Down syndrome. 

Prenatal screening within the first 11 through 14 weeks of pregnancy can determine whether a preborn child has a higher likelihood of having Down syndrome, but a follow-up diagnostic test can confirm whether the child has the condition. Although efforts to destigmatize the condition have had some success, the likelihood that a mother will abort her child increases dramatically after such a diagnosis. 

A 2012 study that compiled data from 24 studies between 1995 and 2011 found that more than two-thirds of preborn children who were diagnosed with Down syndrome in the womb were killed via abortion. Rates throughout Europe are even higher — more than 90%. In Iceland, nearly all preborn children diagnosed with Down syndrome are aborted and only about two or three children with Down syndrome are born every year.

Mary O’Callaghan, a visiting fellow at Notre Dame University’s McGrath Institute for Church Life, noted a disconnect between the “more positive” attitude the public expresses about people with Down syndrome and the “more aggressive targeting” of abortion for preborn children with Down syndrome.

“Those with Down syndrome are increasingly showing us their ability to flourish,” said O’Callaghan, who also has a child with Down syndrome. In spite of this, she said, “we’re in a much worse place in respect to abortion and Down syndrome.”

Bridget Brown, a 36-year-old woman with Down syndrome who serves on the National Catholic Partnership on Disability Council on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, expressed the same concern. 

Noting the trends in countries such as Iceland, Brown said she may be from the last generation of people with Down syndrome: “The world may never again benefit from our gifts.”

“This is genocide — the systematic killing of a whole people,” Brown added, citing a letter she wrote to Pope Francis about the situation in Iceland before meeting the pontiff in 2017.

Bridget Brown meets with Pope Francis in Vatican City on Oct. 21, 2017. Credit: L'Osservatore Romano.
Bridget Brown meets with Pope Francis in Vatican City on Oct. 21, 2017. Credit: L’Osservatore Romano.

According to Tracy Winsor, who co-founded an organization to support couples who carry their children to term after a prenatal diagnosis called Be Not Afraid, many women consider abortion after a diagnosis because receiving the news is a “traumatic event” for most couples and is presented as a “worst-case scenario.” 

Winsor noted that doctors will present a lot of information, which “can be overwhelming” at the moment. She advises parents to immediately connect with parents who have children living with Down syndrome and to advocates for individuals with Down syndrome.

O’Callaghan agreed: “Meeting with other parents around this time is very helpful [in reducing abortion].” Prenatal testing, she noted, should be oriented toward preparing for their child.

“They need to think about prenatal testing oriented toward the health of their child,” O’Callaghan said.

Brown similarly noted that like everyone else, her “life is filled with hopes and possibilities” and encouraged couples who receive a prenatal Down syndrome diagnosis for their preborn child to approach the situation positively. 

“Make plans based on dreams and not on fears,” Brown said. “Believe in yourself and your child.”

[…]

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