According to Benedict XVI’s personal secretary, the Pope Emeritus kindly addresses his thoughts to Pope Francis and prays fervently for him.
Vatican City (06/07/2021 13:15, Gaudium Press) In statements to Italian media, Archbishop Georg Gänswein, prefect of the Pontifical Household and personal secretary to Benedict XVI, said that the Pope Emeritus “kindly addresses his thoughts to Pope Francis and prays fervently for him”.
Pope Francis will remain hospitalised for seven days
According to statements by Matteo Bruni, director of the Holy See Press Office, Francis will remain for seven days in the Gemelli polyclinic post-operatively, unless any complications arise. The operation on the Pope lasted about three hours and included the removal of a left part of his colon.
Yesterday Bruni announced the Pope’s overall good condition. Today he announced that the pontiff rested well overnight, had breakfast, read the newspaper and walked a little in the morning, and that recovery is proceeding as planned.
The Popes’ hospital
The Gemelli Polyclinic, where Francis is located, could also be considered the hospital of the Popes, and in fact a part of the 10th floor is reserved for the Pope. St. John Paul II was treated there after he suffered an assassination attempt in 1981. After that occasion, the Polish Pope was hospitalised there nine times. He called it “Vatican number three”, the first being St Peter’s Square and the second being the Popes’ summer house at Castel Gandolfo. There is a marble statue of St. John Paul II at the entrance to the hospital.
Apart from the hospital admissions, St. John Paul II visited the hospital on three occasions. One in 1984 to celebrate Mass in the square in front of the hospital on the 25th anniversary of the death of Father Agostino Gemelli. Another was in 1988 to bless the new cardiac intensive care unit and another in 2000 to attend the inauguration of the 2000-2001 academic year of the Catholic University. Benedict XVI has never entered Gemelli as a patient and this is Francis’ first time. (EPC)
