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Vatican City, Jul 9, 2021 / 04:30 am (CNA).
Pope Francis will lead the Angelus from his hospital room on Sunday as he recovers from intestinal surgery, the Vatican said.
The pope is at Rome’s Gemelli University Hospital this week after undergoing a July 4 operation to remove part of his colon.
His hospital room is on the 10th floor of the sprawling polyclinic in a wing reserved for papal medical emergencies. The pope’s medical suite can be identified from the street by its five large windows covered by white blinds.
It is the same room where John Paul II stayed during many of his hospital treatments, including for a colon surgery in 1992 and his hospitalization after being shot in an assassination attempt in 1981.
John Paul II famously delivered his Sunday Angelus address from the hospital window.
Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said July 9 that Pope Francis was progressing normally in his recovery and had resumed his work from the hospital, alternating it with reading.
The pope was also able to celebrate Mass in the chapel of his private hospital room in the afternoon on July 8, in the presence of those assisting him during his hospitalization.
“The Holy Father gives thanks for the many messages of affection and closeness that he receives daily and asks that we continue to pray for him,” Bruni said.
The Vatican said that Pope Francis underwent a CT scan of his chest and abdomen on the morning of July 8, after temporarily running a fever the night before.
Bruni said that no problems were uncovered by the scans. He also said the pope was able to move and eat unassisted, and was no longer in need of intravenous treatment.
The July 9 Vatican statement said that the pope does not have a fever.
During his hospitalization, Pope Francis sent an affectionate message to the young patients in the nearby pediatric oncology and children’s neurosurgery wards, according to the Vatican.
The children returned the pope’s greeting with their own handwritten card, according to Vatican News.
The front of the paper had a colored pencil drawing of Pope Francis 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.”
A girl named Giulia, who is hospitalized at the Vatican-owned Bambino Gesù Pediatric Hospital, also sent Pope Francis a greeting. On a picture of her holding his hand while he is in a hospital bed, she wrote: “Dear Pope Francis, feel my prayer like I felt yours when I was sick.”
The Vatican confirmed earlier this week that the 84-year-old pope had suffered a “severe” narrowing of the colon.
Bruni said that examinations showed that Pope Francis had experienced “severe diverticular stenosis [narrowing] with signs of sclerosing [hardening] diverticulitis.”
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.
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.
The Vatican spokesman said July 5 that the pope was expected to spend seven days recovering in the hospital, “barring complications.”
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.
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Thank God that the Holy Father is doing well and blessed to address all on 7/11 – what would have been Feast Day of St. Benedict , ? pointing to the multifaceted and glorious aspects of our faith in ever more brightness of the Light of Truth in the Divine Will .
The readings on the mission of Elijah , chosen to purify Israel from the impurity of idolatry , yet God allowing him to be fed by ‘ impure’ ravens , in the ‘impure ‘ land of Jordan – all such accepted in wisdom by the prophet , who was ever attentive to the Voice of God ..
https://www.universalis.com/20210711/readings.htm
The new controversy with regard to the appointment of the Cardinal for the planned synod – ? the Holy Father discerning the need for The Church at large to ponder and dialogue , even as we may not grasp the full intent of such , just as The Lord too knew how to instruct different persons in different ways of doing His Will , seeing the varying needs of hearts – a leper , ? with its connection to the spirit of pride and rebellion needing more time in quiet and hiddenness , with gratitude –
http://dougenick.blogspot.com/2011/01/why-did-jesus-say-dont-tell.html
Likely too that the controversy with regard to women and priesthood also thus allowed , for the culture at large to chew on it , to discern His Will through it all ; already in The Garden , The Father would have foreseen that The Woman ( and her children ) would be the target of the enemy’s envy and hatred – for the body and humanity as a whole ..that the protective Love that was in Adam , in seeing Eve as own ‘flesh and bone ‘ would be wounded , that the desire to go after what ‘looks
good ‘ , in turn themselves to become objects of lust and user attitudes would come in , that are to be countered with The Veil of hiddenness that our Lord Himself manifests in the glorious hiddenness in The Eucharist .
The Holy Father , as witness to the Eucharistic Miracle of Argentina , likely also rejoicing in being able to share the sufferings in the body , giving the silent witness for our needy times , that The Risen Lord desires to transform all our bodily sufferings too ( women thus given plenty of occasions for same as well ) since He can only do so now through our bodies …
IIRR , the book of S.G. Cora Evans mentions how our Lord was always covered with a veil of light ( as Adam was ) such that no one ever saw His nakedness …
the witness of the mystics who live on The Sacred Host alone for years – such as Luisa of the Divine Will can also lead us to wonder as to what the whole structure of the human body might have been before The Fall – ? food to have been tasted in its virginal goodness , even with the whole body ..and nothing to have been there for waste .. that the ‘rib’ that was taken from Adam could have been in the center of the chest that now has in its place the fleshy cartilege as the sternum – to also convey that the wounds and arrows aimed by the enemy against women are meant to go through into both Hearts ..
The little interest given in the monastic communities for the Post Fall mode of
carnal pleasures , while cherishing the power in making bodily reparations – our Holy Father too witnessing to same !
May there be many who see the signs of our times in such and desire to imitate the good , in accord with His Will and Design and to rejoice with the glory of the holy angels and saints , including the many Chinese martyrs honored today .