(ZENIT News / Vatican City, 06.04.2025).- Two weeks after leaving the Hospital, the Pope appeared in public again at around noon on Sunday, April 6, in the context of the Jubilee of the Sick and the World of Health.
Thousands of people gathered in Saint Peter’s Square for the Mass on Sunday morning, which was presided over by Monsignor Rino Fisichella who replaced the Pope as the presiding priest at Mass, given that the Pontiff has been prescribed two months of rest. However, shortly before the final Blessing, Pope Francis entered the Basilica’s «sacred sanctuary.» His nasal cannulas and difficulty in moving (in fact, he could barely move his hands) were evident. Although the doctors at the press conference, before the Pope left the Hospital, had urged people not to approach or greet the Pope by touching him, their advice was ignored.
After the final Blessing, the Pope was handed the microphone. With a very weakened voice, he said: “Happy Sunday everyone. Thank you very much.”
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Before greetings the pilgrims and faithful gathered in the Square, to whom he expressed his gratitude, he received the Sacrament of Reconciliation in Saint Peter’s Basilica, recollected himself in prayer and crossed the Holy Door. The Holy Father prepared the homily for this Sunday but it was read by someone else. In one part of the homily he said:
“Dear sick brothers and sisters, at this moment in my life, I share much with you: the experience of illness, of feeling weak, of depending on others for many things, of needing support. It is not always easy, but it is a school in which we learn every day to love and to allow ourselves to be loved, without pretence or rejection, without regret or despair, grateful to God and to our brothers and sisters for the good we receive, abandoned and trusting in what is yet to come. The hospital room and the bed of illness can be places where we hear the voice of the Lord saying to us too: ‘Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?’ (Isaiah 43:19). And in this way, faith is renewed and strengthened.
