Stunning comeback as Pope Francis set to make public appearance as early as tomorrow | World | News
Pope Francis is set to make his first appearance in over a month tomorrow. The Vatican said he is expected to offer a blessing from the window of his room at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital. The announcement marks a Lazarus-like revival for the pontiff who has been suffering from pneumonia.
The 88-year-old has been battling the life-threatening lung condition since being admitted to hospital on February 14, prompting prayers from some 1.4 billion followers of the Catholic faith. The news of an appearance from the head of the Catholic church on Sunday follows a statement from Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra who said he found Pope Frances in good humour during his visits to the hospital.
The Vactican said Pope Francis wanted to appear at the hospital window around noon on Sunday to give a greeting and a blessing.
Peña Parra, who is the Vatican chief of staff, visited Francis on February 24, March 2 and March 9 along with the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the lone Vatican officials who have called on him aside from his personal secretaries.
He said: “The pope will recover, the pope is recovering well. The doctors say that he needs some time, but it’s going well progressively.
“I found him well, serene, in good humor, and, just like him, tough with the desire to go forward.”
The Vatican press office reported on Friday that Pope Francis’ overall condition remained stable, with slight improvements as he continues respiratory and physical physiotherapy.
He was continuing to reduce his reliance on high-flow supplemental oxygen he has needed to breathe during the day and no longer needs the mechanical ventilation mask at night.
In other comments Friday, another top friend and ally of the pope, Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, said that “a new stage” was opening in Francis’ 12-year pontificate and that he expects some surprises from the pontiff when he’s released.
Fernández, the Argentine theologian who Francis brought in as the Vatican’s doctrine chief, said that he had been in touch with Francis since his February 14 hospitalisation and was heartened that he had stabilized.
He provided no time frame on when Francis might be released, but ruled out any thought that he might resign.
He said that he understood that Francis was responding well to treatment, but that doctors were keeping him at the hospital “to be 100%”.
He said that Francis needed rehabilitation therapy to help him regain strength to speak after so many weeks on noninvasive mechanical ventilation and supplemental oxygen.
