By Our Reporter
About to celebrate twelve years of pontificate, the delicate health of Pope Francis set off alarm bells in the Vatican, after the initial bronchitis that caused his hospitalization on February 14 evolved into bilateral pneumonia. With a “complex clinical picture”, although he is stable after suffering several episodes of acute respiratory failure in recent days, the Holy See assumes that the pontiff’s stay in the hospital will be longer than expected. And the Vatican machinery is starting to get into gear to prepare for a Church with a leader low.
Every evening since February 24, hundreds of people gathered at the Vatican to pray the rosary for the Pope’s speedy recovery. Yesterday, for the first time, Francis addressed him in an audio recording released by the Holy See. “I sincerely thank you for the prayers you make for my health from the square,” he said in a tired voice. “May God bless you and may the Virgin take care of you.” In a city that is trying to show its best face to celebrate the Holy Year dedicated to Hope, the unexpected hospitalization of the pontiff changed the plans of thousands of pilgrims who have come to Rome from all over the world. Many traveled with the hope of being able to see Pope Francis from the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica, but now they only anxiously await the news that arrives every evening from the tenth floor of the Gemelli Hospital.
This is Francesc’s fourth – and longest – hospitalization. The pontiff remains hospitalized in this Roman hospital, which John Paul II ironically christened Vatican III, as if it were a kind of third papal residence, only behind Castel Gandolfo, the summer house of the Popes. It is not an ordinary room, but a small apartment with several rooms, including a chapel, which these days is armored from the outside. The Vatican Gendarmerie watches the apartment continuously and throws out anyone who tries to approach it without invitation, as is the case of the Argentine activist Juan Gabrois, who tried to enter and was immediately expelled.
For a Pope accustomed to being among the faithful, transatlantic trips and a tight schedule, the lockdown The one who is obliged to do so is finding it particularly difficult, those who know him best suggest these days. Apart from the Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, who visited him a few days after his hospitalisation, the Pope has only received two collaborators: the Vatican Secretary of State, Pietro Parolin, and his own number two, Edgar Peña Parra. Both met with the pontiff at least twice in the last three weeks.
Although the Vatican did not initially release information about the meeting, it later explained that the two prelates had come to advance the signing of several decrees of canonization and the convening of a consistory, still without a date. The most veteran Vaticanists then recalled that the unexpected resignation of Benedict XVI in 2013 was announced during a similar meeting of cardinals, which fueled rumors about Francis’ future when he leaves the hospital.
Illness, A Legal Loophole
A hypothesis that is still far off, because the doctors have not clarified how long he will be hospitalized or how long his convalescence will be if he manages to overcome the illness. The prognosis, three weeks later, remains reserved. Some media suggest that the Santa Marta residence – the small hotel for religious inside the Vatican where he lives – is being adequately equipped to allow the Pope to continue treatment there.
Since his admission, the Vatican has published a daily statement with details of the Pontiff’s clinical progress, in which it emphasizes that the Pope continues to work from the hospital. Even the medical team acknowledged that he has the mind of a 50-year-old man. But if his health conditions were to worsen without first resigning from office, the Church would find itself in a vacuum.legal, since there is no provision in canon law that allows for a transfer of papal power in the event of illness.
In 2021, a canon law group proposed norms to fill this legislative gap, but they were not approved. For a Church that functions as an absolute monarchy, the impediment for health reasons of the leader is a difficult challenge to manage.
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