Pope's condition continues to improve; he is following Lenten retreat

Pope's condition continues to improve; he is following Lenten retreat
By Cindy Wooden , Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Francis' condition continued to be stable with further slight improvements March 11, the Vatican press office said.

The pope's doctors at Rome's Gemelli hospital did not issue a medical bulletin March 11, the day after they had announced his continued stability and incremental improvement had led them to lift their "guarded" prognosis, although they insisted he continued to need hospitalization.

The Vatican press office said the 88-year-old Pope Francis had again watched by video the morning and evening talks of Capuchin Father Roberto Pasolini, preacher of the papal household, who is leading the Lenten retreat at the Vatican for cardinals and senior members of the Roman Curia.

It is not a two-way video connection, so participants have not seen the pope, but Father Pasolini began his morning talk by greeting the pope and praying that his retreat meditations on eternal life might be additional "medicine" to help the pope recover.

The nightly recitation of the rosary for Pope Francis' health became part of the Lenten retreat beginning March 10. The cardinals and other retreat participants recite it at about 6 p.m. local time inside the Vatican audience hall where they are meeting.

Members of the public are invited to join them by watching on video screens in St. Peter's Square. Cardinal Kurt Koch, prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, led the prayer March 11.

The cardinal began with a reading of Jesus' words to Peter in St. John's Gospel, "When you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go."

"How can we not recognize in these words what our Holy Father, the successor of Peter, is experiencing and suffering?" the cardinal asked. "Certainly, the situations are different, but the experience of serious illness is a great challenge."

Cardinal Koch prayed that the pope always would sense God's nearness to him and asked that "Mary, Mother of Hope," would intercede to restore him to health.

The Vatican press office said Pope Francis was continuing his physical therapy and breathing exercises as well as drug therapy to treat the multiple infections doctors discovered when he was hospitalized Feb. 14 complaining of bronchitis and difficulty breathing. He was later diagnosed with double pneumonia.

In addition, the Vatican press office said, the pope received the Eucharist and spent time praying in the chapel of the suite of rooms the Gemelli hospital has kept reserved for the popes since St. John Paul II was treated there repeatedly.

A Vatican source also insisted that several Italian newspapers were wrong when they claimed work was underway at the Domus Sanctae Marthae, the pope's Vatican residence, to prepare a hospital-like setting there for the pope.

Even the idea that medical equipment was being brought in was wrong, the source said, since no date has been set for the pope's release and doctors have not said what type of treatment he may need as he continues to convalesce.