Vatican hosts rosary in St. Peter Square as pope recovers

The morning after Pope Francis’ doctors said that he remained in “critical” condition and showed initial signs of renal insufficiency, the Vatican press office said the pope was in “good spirits” and continuing his treatment.

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, led a public recitation of the rosary at 9 p.m. (2 p.m. Central) Feb. 24 in St. Peter’s Square. The prayer is a moment “to show the closeness of the Church to the pope and all who are sick,” said Matteo Bruni, director of the Vatican press office.

Some two dozen cardinals joined the nighttime prayer Feb. 24, along with officials of the Roman Curia and hundreds of Catholics from Rome and around the world. The daily rosary will be a fixed appointment, the Vatican said. 

Pope Francis, who celebrated his 88th birthday in December, has been an inpatient at Rome’s Gemelli hospital since Feb. 14; his doctors diagnosed double pneumonia.

A medical bulletin published by the Vatican late Feb. 24, said Pope Francis’ condition had shown a slight improvement during the day, but his condition remained critical. He had not had another “asthmatic respiratory crisis,” so doctors were able to reduce the oxygen he is receiving by nasal cannula.

The Vatican press office the pope is in “good spirits,” is continuing his treatment and is not in pain. The pope can and still does get out of bed.

The press office publishes a longer statement every evening, which the doctors said they write and give to the pope for his approval before publication.

A blood transfusion administered Feb. 22, the bulletin said, did prove beneficial “with a rise in the value of hemoglobin.” However, it added, his platelet count was still low.

“The complexity of his clinical picture, and the need to wait for the drug therapies to provide some result, dictate that the prognosis remains reserved,” the doctors had said late Feb. 23.

In the suite of rooms reserved for the popes on the 10th floor of the hospital, Pope Francis “participated in Holy Mass, together with those who are caring for him during these days of hospitalization,” the bulletin said.

The Vatican released a message written by the pope for the midday recitation of the Angelus prayer Feb. 23, but did not say what day the pope wrote it.

“I am confidently continuing my hospitalization,” the pope wrote, “carrying on with the necessary treatment; and rest is also part of the therapy!”

Pope Francis thanked the doctors and health care workers for their care and also thanked people for the “many messages of affection” that he has received, particularly the letters and drawings sent by children.

“Thank you for this closeness and for the prayers of comfort I have received from all over the world,” he wrote.

Many of those prayers have come from people who gather in the courtyard beneath his suite of rooms at the hospital. The immense stone statue of St. John Paul II is the focal point where visitors gravitate to pray and leave flowers, candles, rosaries, cards, drawings and notes. 

While there have been more journalists in the courtyard than faithful most days, that changed about 10 minutes before noon Feb. 23. More than 60 young people and members of a community connected with the Pontifical Academy of the Immaculate Conception arrived to pray the midday Angelus. They were joined later by Cardinal Angelo De Donatis, the head of the Apostolic Penitentiary and the pope’s former vicar for the Diocese of Rome from 2017 to 2024.

Father Giacomo Martinelli, who heads the academy’s pastoral initiatives and was leading the group, told reporters the pope needs everyone’s prayers “like Jesus in Gethsemane.”

“Prayer works. It is God’s power,” the priest said.

Cardinal De Donatis told reporters that this was a time “to intensify one’s prayers” and to ask God to give the pope strength. “We’re here to help him feel our closeness” and “this strong embrace.”