Pope Francis marked the 12th anniversary of his pontificate in hospital, receiving encouraging medical news about his recovery, cake and a flood of messages of good wishes.
He spent the morning in physical therapy, performed the Lenten spiritual exercises of the Roman Curia and went to pray in the chapel of Gemelli Hospital, where he has been undergoing treatment for a serious lung infection since February 14, Vatican sources said.
During the day, medical staff treated him to cake.
The Vatican said on Wednesday that a chest X-ray confirmed an improvement in his condition, two days after doctors said he was no longer in imminent danger of death.
The latest medical report said the 88-year-old pope's condition remained stable, but also indicated a difficult situation given his overall vulnerabilities, which include age, limited mobility that often requires a wheelchair, and the removal of part of his lung when he was younger. No medical update was available Thursday.
Francis was elected on March 13, 2013, as the 266th pontiff and the first Latin American pope of the Catholic Church.
The anniversary is a public holiday in the Vatican, but no special events were held. A mass in his honor was held later at an Argentine church in Rome.
The Vatican said Francis had received hundreds of drawings and messages from children and young people around the world wishing him a speedy recovery.
The Gemelli Hospital, located about 15 minutes by train from the Vatican, has become a place of pilgrimage for those visiting Rome as part of the Jubilee Year celebrations.
John Paul II, who spent 55 days at Gemelli (the longest hospital stay of any pope to date), liked to joke that it was “Vatican III” after the Vatican itself and Castel Gandolfo, which had long been used as a residence by popes until Francis.
Sourse: breakingnews.ie
