Pope Francis has been hospitalized since Feb. 14
VATICAN CITY — A light drizzle finally let up as hundreds of faithful headed to St. Peter’s Square to pray the Rosary for Pope Francis on the 11th day of his hospitalization for double pneumonia.
The wet black cobblestones shone from the bright lights illuminating the fountains and the front of the square where Pope Francis normally sits for his Wednesday general audiences. An image of Mater Ecclesiae — Mary, Mother of the Church — adorned with greenery and white and pink flowers took center stage.
About 27 cardinals living in Rome and dozens of members of the Roman Curia sat to the side as Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, knelt before the image, leading a recitation of the Rosary Feb. 24 at 9 p.m. The U.S. bishops encouraged the faithful to pray the Rosary at that time as well. Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, pro-prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization, led the Rosary the next night, Feb. 25.
In an update Feb. 25, the Vatican said that Pope Francis’s “clinical condition remains critical but stable” and the “prognosis remains guarded.” The bulletin also said, “In the morning, after receiving the Eucharist, he resumed work.”
Cardinal Parolin first greeted those gathered by saying, “For 2,000 years Christians have been praying for the pope when in danger or infirm.”
“Since the Holy Father Francis has been hospitalized at Gemelli hospital, intense prayer has been raised to the Lord by individual faithful and Christian communities around the world,” he said. Starting with this evening, “we also want to join in this prayer publicly here in his home with the recitation of the holy Rosary.”
Entrusting the 88-year-old pope “to the powerful intercession of most holy Mary,” the cardinal said, “may she, our caring mother, sustain him in this time of illness and trial, and help him to recover his health soon.”
Among the many Vatican officials was Korean Cardinal Lazarus You Heung-sik, prefect of the Dicastery for Clergy. He told reporters before the event that the moment of prayer was important because “you always pray for those who are not well.”
“The pope belongs to all of us,” he said, adding that even those who could not be in Rome were also praying at the same time. “In Korea, where it is eight hours ahead, they are praying with us.”
Father Antonio Tunecas, a priest from Angola studying in Rome, said that the prayer service was a way “to be a family of the universal Church, united with Pope Francis, united in prayer,” asking God, “in his goodness, to offer good health” to the pope and that “His will be done.”
