Pope thanks doctors, healthcare workers

Pope Francis issued a message on Sunday thanking volunteers for the “miracle of tenderness” they offer the sick, as he continued his recovery from double pneumonia and doctors reported positive news. After more than three weeks in the hospital, the 88-year-old pope is responding well to treatment and has shown a “gradual, slight improvement” in recent days.

For the fourth Sunday in a row, the 88-year-old Francis didn’t appear for his weekly noon blessing, but he met his top deputies and the Holy See distributed the text he would have delivered if he were well enough.

In it, the Argentine pope thanked all those who were caring for him and others who are sick and experiencing a “night of pain.”

“Brothers and sisters, during my prolonged hospitalisation here, I too experience the thoughtfulness of service and the tenderness of care, in particular from the doctors and health care workers, whom I thank from the bottom of my heart,” read the message from Gemelli hospital.

“And while I am here, I think of the many people who in various ways are close to the sick, and who are for them a sign of the Lord’s presence. We need this, the ‘miracle of tenderness’ which accompanies those who are in adversity, bringing a little light into the night of pain,” he wrote.

Francis, who has chronic lung disease and had part of one lung removed as a young man, has remained in stable condition at Gemelli, with no fever and good oxygen levels in his blood for several days, doctors reported in a Vatican statement on Saturday.

The doctors said that such stability “as a consequence testifies to a good response to therapy.”

It was the first time the doctors had reported that Francis was responding positively to the treatment for the complex lung infection that was diagnosed after he was hospitalised on Feb.14.

But they kept his prognosis as “guarded,” meaning he’s not out of danger.

On Sunday morning, the Vatican reported he was resting after a quiet night.

In his absence, the Vatican’s day-to-day operations continued alongside celebrations of its Holy Year, the once-every-quarter-century Jubilee that brings millions of pilgrims to Rome.

On Sunday, Canadian Cardinal Michael Czerny, who is close to Francis, celebrated the Holy Year Mass for volunteers that Francis was supposed to have celebrated.

Associated Press