Pope Francis blesses the faithful at the Jubilee of the Sick in St. Peter’s Square, Vatican City, on April 6, 2025, as his personal nurse, Massimo Strappetti, assists him in the wheelchair. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA
Vatican City, Apr 8, 2025 / 10:30 am (CNA).
Pope Francis has shown slight health improvements and continues to work while in convalescence, the Vatican said on Tuesday.
Though the Holy Father’s clinical situation is “stationary,” the Holy See Press Office told journalists during a morning press briefing on the pope’s health that the 88-year-old pontiff’s lung infection is “still ongoing though decreasing.”
Showing “slight improvements in voice and mobility” as a result of continued respiratory and motor physiotherapies, the Holy Father continues to use nasal tubes throughout the day and receives high-flow oxygenation treatment “at night” or “as needed,” according to the Vatican.
Amid ongoing therapies at his Casa Santa Marta residence, the pope continues to work and concelebrate Mass each day during his monthslong convalescence.
“He receives documents from the various dicasteries and in the last few days has resumed some meetings, [and] yesterday he saw the cardinal secretary of state [Pietro Parolin],” the Holy See Press Office stated.
The Holy Father’s written catechesis on the theme of “Jesus Christ Our Hope” will be released by the Vatican on Wednesday.
In view of upcoming Holy Week celebrations at St. Peter’s Basilica, the press office stated that there are currently no “indications” or “predictions” on the pontiff’s public participation in the Vatican’s official ceremonies.
Since returning home after spending almost 40 days in Rome’s Gemelli Hospital, the pope has made only one brief public appearance in St. Peter’s Square on April 6.
Greeting thousands of pilgrims participating in the special Jubilee of the Sick and Health Care Workers that day, the Holy Father expressed his particular gratitude for those who show God’s love and mercy to those who are ill and frail.
“Dear doctors, nurses, and health care workers,” the pope said Sunday, “in caring for your patients, especially the most vulnerable among them, the Lord constantly affords you an opportunity to renew your lives through gratitude, mercy, and hope.”
Pope Francis blesses an ambulance that he donated to to treat the wounded in Ukraine’s Ternopil region in 2024. / Credit: Dicastery for the Service of Charity
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Pope Francis at the Jubilee of the Sick in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday, April 6, 2025, wearing nasal cannulas for supplemental oxygen as he continues recovering from bilateral pneumonia. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/EWTN News
CNA Newsroom, Apr 6, 2025 / 07:32 am (CNA).
Still recovering from bilateral pneumonia that hospitalized him for nearly 40 days, Pope Francis made a surprise appearance in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday for the Jubilee of the Sick, sharing profound reflections on suffering, care, and the transformative power of illness.
Wearing nasal cannulas that provide supplemental oxygen, Pope Francis arrived in a wheelchair accompanied by a nurse.
Pope Francis blesses the faithful at the Jubilee of the Sick in St. Peter’s Square, Vatican City, on April 6, 2025, as his personal nurse, Massimo Strappetti, assists him in the wheelchair. Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA
Hundreds of faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square on April 6, receiving him enthusiastically around 11:45 a.m. local time.
The pontiff said that “the sickbed can become a ‘holy place’ of salvation and redemption, both for the sick and for those who care for them.”
“I have much in common with you at this time of my life, dear brothers and sisters who are sick: the experience of illness, of weakness, of having to depend on others in so many things, and of needing their support,” the pope told his audience.
“This is not always easy, but it is a school in which we learn each day to love and to let ourselves be loved, without being demanding or pushing back, without regrets and without despair, but rather with gratitude to God and to our brothers and sisters for the kindness we receive, looking toward the future with acceptance and trust.”
The 88-year-old pontiff invited the faithful to contemplate the Israelites’ situation in exile, as Isaiah described. “It seemed that all was lost,” Francis noted, but added that it was precisely in this moment of trial that “a new people was being born.” He connected this biblical experience to the woman in the day’s Gospel reading who had been condemned and ostracized for her sins.
Her accusers, ready to cast the first stone, were halted by the quiet authority of Jesus, the pope’s homily explained.
Faithful gather in St. Peter’s Square for the Jubilee of the Sick and Health Care Workers on April 6, 2025, including religious sisters, medical professionals, and pilgrims from around the world. Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA
In comparing these stories, Pope Francis emphasized that God does not wait for our lives to be perfect before intervening.
“Illness is certainly one of the harshest and most difficult of life’s trials, when we experience in our own flesh our common human frailty. It can make us feel like the people in exile, or like the woman in the Gospel: deprived of hope for the future,” the pontiff’s homily said.
“Yet that is not the case. Even in these times, God does not leave us alone, and if we surrender our lives to him, precisely when our strength fails, we will be able to experience the consolation of his presence. By becoming man, he wanted to share our weakness in everything.”
Pope Francis thanked all health care workers for their service in a particularly moving passage: “Dear doctors, nurses, and health care workers, in caring for your patients, especially the most vulnerable among them, the Lord constantly affords you an opportunity to renew your lives through gratitude, mercy, and hope.”
The pontiff encouraged them to receive every patient as an opportunity to renew their sense of humanity. His words acknowledged the challenges facing medical workers, including inadequate working conditions and even instances of aggression against them.
Bringing his address to a close, the pontiff recalled the encyclical Spe Salvi of Pope Benedict XVI, who reminded the Church that “the true measure of humanity is determined in relation to suffering.” Francis warned, with the words of his predecessor, that “a society unable to accept its suffering members is a cruel and inhuman society.”
Archbishop Rino Fisichella incenses a statue of the Madonna and Child during the Jubilee of the Sick and Health Care Workers at St. Peter’s Square, April 6, 2025. Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA
The Holy Father urged all present to resist the temptation to marginalize and forget the elderly, ill, or those weighed down by life’s hardships: “Dear friends, let us not exclude from our lives those who are frail, as at times, sadly, a certain mentality does today.”
‘I feel the finger of God’
In his brief Angelus remarks following the Mass, the pope shared his personal experience: “Dear friends, as during my hospitalization, even now in my convalescence I feel the ‘finger of God’ and experience his caring touch.”
The pope also called for prayers for all who suffer and for health care professionals, urging investment in necessary resources for care and research, so that health care systems may be inclusive and attend to the most fragile and poor.
Pope Francis concluded with a plea for peace in conflict zones, including Ukraine, Gaza, the Middle East, Sudan, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Myanmar, and Haiti.
The Holy See has not yet commented on whether Pope Francis will participate in Holy Week ceremonies, with the Vatican press office indicating that “it is premature to discuss this” and assuring that further details will be provided later.
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A group of 16 high schoolers and their three chaperones from Melbourne, Australia, take part in the feet-washing rite as part of a jubilee pilgrimage to Rome, Tuesday, March 24, 2025. / Credit: Hannah Brockhaus/CNA
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CNA Newsroom, Apr 4, 2025 / 06:22 am (CNA).
Pope Francis continues to show “slight improvement” in his respiratory condition as he receives ongoing medical care at the Vatican, according to the latest update from the Holy See Press Office on Friday.
According to the Vatican, the pope’s mood remains positive as his pharmaceutical, motor, and respiratory therapies continue. The Holy See also noted Sunday’s Angelus might be conducted differently compared to recent weeks, with more details expected on Saturday.
The 88-year-old pontiff has improved his respiratory function, mobility, and voice, while recent blood tests indicate a mild improvement in infection markers, Vatican officials said.
Although the pope still requires supplemental oxygen, his need for it has slightly decreased. During the day, he receives standard oxygen therapy, while high-flow oxygen is administered through nasal cannulas at night as needed.
Despite his health challenges, the Holy Father has maintained his working schedule, reported ACI Stampa, CNA’s Italian-language news partner.
On Wednesday, he participated remotely in the Mass by Cardinal Pietro Parolin commemorating the 20th anniversary of St. John Paul II’s death.
Vatican officials indicated it remains premature to discuss the pope’s participation in upcoming Holy Week celebrations.
The next official press briefing on the pope’s condition is scheduled for Tuesday, April 8.
The Vatican has released the planned Holy Week schedule, which begins with Palm Sunday Mass in St. Peter’s Square on April 13 at 10 a.m. local time.
Pope Francis blesses the faithful at the Jubilee of the Sick in St. Peter’s Square, Vatican City, on April 6, 2025, as his personal nurse, Massimo Strappetti, assists him in the wheelchair. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA
