He Pope Francisco will attend the Palm Sunday mass in Saint Peter’s Square, confirmed today the spokesman for the Holy See, Matteo Bruni.
Francisco, 86, must leave the Gemelli hospital in Rome tomorrow, where he has been admitted since Wednesday for bronchitis. In this way, he will be able to preside over the mass that officially opens the rites of Holy Week.
I am moved by the numerous messages that I have received in these hours; I thank everyone for their closeness and their prayers.
— Pope Francis (@Pontifex_es) March 30, 2023
Palm Sunday will be officiated by the Vice Dean of the College of Cardinals, Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, and with this celebration will open the most important week of the liturgical calendar, in which Catholics commemorate the death and resurrection of Christ.
For the moment, the Vatican has not confirmed how Francis will be involved in the different masses, if, for example, he will read homilies or messages like the one he usually delivers at the end of the Via Crucis on Good Friday, in the Roman Coliseum.
For now, he is expected to be in charge of pronouncing the Palm Sunday homily and also giving the traditional “Urbi et Orbi” blessing and reading his Easter Sunday message from the central loggia of Saint Peter’s Basilica.
As for his health, the Holy See announced that he will be discharged from hospital on Saturday, after seeing the results of today’s controls.
“In the evening, Pope Francis had dinner, eating pizza, together with those who are assisting him in these days of hospitalization: with the Holy Father were present the doctors, nurses, assistants and Gendarmerie personnel,” Bruni reported. according to Vatican News.
This morning, after breakfast, the Pope “read some newspapers and went back to work.”
Francis suffers from infectious-based bronchitis and is receiving intravenous infusion of antibiotics, a therapy that has produced “the expected effects with a notable improvement in his state of health,” said the Vatican spokesman, quoted by efe.
It is the second time that Francisco has been admitted to this Roman hospital, after he underwent colon surgery on July 4, 2021 and remained hospitalized for ten days, during which he came to officiate at the Angelus from the balcony of the health center.
Since then, the Pope has only suffered a problem in his right knee that forces him to walk with a cane or a wheelchair and has assured on several occasions that he does not want to undergo surgery.
On Thursday, the Government of Cuba expressed its wishes for a speedy recovery to Francisco through a message on Twitter from Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel.
With information from Efe and Vatican News.
