Pope Francis has cleared the way for the canonizations of three blesseds: an Armenian Catholic archbishop martyred during the Armenian genocide, a lay catechist from Papua New Guinea killed during World War II, and a Venezuelan religious sister who dedicated her life to education and the poor.
Pope Francis
Pope Francis encouraged pilgrim groups visiting Rome for the Holy Year to be witnesses of hope and trust in God’s faithfulness, especially in moments of discouragement.
Priests must recognize that it is a privilege to administer the sacrament of reconciliation and grant absolution, Pope Francis wrote.
Those who work to keep children and vulnerable adults safe are serving and honoring Christ, Pope Francis said in a written message.
In his last written message from Rome’s Gemelli Hospital before returning to the Vatican, Pope Francis greeted bishops and the faithful from the Archdiocese of Naples on their Holy Year pilgrimage.
Immediately before leaving Rome’s Gemelli hospital after more than five weeks of treatment for breathing difficulties, double pneumonia and infections, Pope Francis greeted hundreds of people who gathered outside the hospital March 23.
Pope Francis spent the night without a breathing mask, the Vatican press office said March 18, indicating that his need for supplemental oxygen continues to diminish.
For the first time since Pope Francis was hospitalized in mid-February, the Vatican press office released a photograph of him March 16; the image shows him concelebrating Mass that morning in the chapel of his suite of rooms at Rome’s Gemelli hospital.
Pope Francis spent the 12th anniversary of his election to the papacy undergoing physiotherapy at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital, but he was well enough to celebrate it in little ways.
Pope Francis’ condition continues to be stable and a chest x-ray “confirmed the improvements recorded in the previous days,” his doctors said, but without saying his double pneumonia had cleared up completely.