Pope Francis acknowledged being fragile and “facing a period of trial”, as he thanked well-wishers on Sunday for their prayers in a message from hospital, where he has been slowly recovering from pneumonia.
The 88-year-old pope, who has weathered setbacks along with periods of improving health since being hospitalised on February 14, sent a particularly personal message to the faithful that referenced both his faith and his frailty.
“I am sharing these thoughts with you while I am facing a period of trial, and I join with so many brothers and sisters who are sick: fragile, at this time, like me,” wrote the pope in the message published by the Vatican.
“Our bodies are weak but, even like this, nothing can prevent us from loving, praying, giving ourselves, being for each other, in faith, shining signs of hope,” added the Argentine pontiff in the message marking the second Sunday of Lent, a 40-day period of prayer and reflection leading up to Easter.
Sunday was the fifth time in a row that the pope’s illness had prevented him from personally giving the Angelus prayer, usually delivered to a crowd gathered in St Peter’s Square following mass.
Although Francis has yet to appear at the window of his papal suite on the 10th floor of the Gemelli hospital, this has not dissuaded a steady stream of well-wishers from gathering, including tango dancers and dozens of children on Sunday.
Under grey skies, about a dozen couples in street clothes danced the tango in front of a throng of cameras as the Argentine pontiff recuperated inside.
“With this tango, he must be discharged,” enthused dancer Daiana Guspero, 38, who, like the pope, hailed from Buenos Aires. “I want him to feel our energy, our love for tango and for an Argentine pope,” she told AFP.
People stand near the statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Gemelli hospital, where current Pope Francis is admitted to continue treatment for ongoing pneumonia, in Rome on March 16. — Reuters
Earlier, a group of young scouts from a Catholic group stood at the foot of a statue of former Pope John Paul II at the hospital entrance, holding yellow and white balloons and vainly striving to catch a glimpse of the pope.
“You see the pope there!” shouted one of them eagerly, before being set straight by the group leader, Valerio Santobonio, 23: “I don’t think that’s him.”
Santobonio told AFP that five to seven-year-olds don’t quite yet grasp who the pope is, nor his health situation. Nevertheless, their visit was “a bit like giving them a window onto a wider stage of Christian life”, Santobonio said.
Other children had arrived in the early morning from an impoverished town near Naples to deliver a letter to Francis, said Andrea Lacomini from Unicef, which organised the excursion.
“He loves children, he is the pope of the children, so we are waiting for him. We’re sure he will get better,” Lacomini told AFP. “We need an important leader like him, because at this time there aren’t many heroes in the world,” he added. “He’s the only one who talks about peace.”
