Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni says there's no cause to think the Pope's eyesight is failing. Francis prefers to speak without notes, Brunei adds. It's a pastoral preference.

"The pope always addresses the people he meets firstly as a shepherd, and speaks accordingly" Bruni says.

"The problem with his sight yesterday [Friday] morning was due to the lighting which produced a reflection on his glasses".

Prepared speeches set aside

Questions about the pope's eyesight were floated last Friday. During a visit to a charitable centre in Lisbon, Francis read only the first few paragraphs of his prepared speech.

He then set it aside, saying the lighting made it difficult for him to read. The prepared text would be published, he promised the small crowd.

He also mostly ignored two other prepared texts during the major international event.

One of those was for a Way of the Cross ceremony. Observers noted he appeared to look down at the prepared text from time to time but did not read from it.

The other text is described as "a highly-anticipated message" for a gathering in Fatima on Saturday morning.

Expectations were reportedly high ahead of the pope's visit to the Marian shrine. May observers anticipated Francis delivering a message of peace amid the ongoing war in Ukraine.

However, after praying the rosary with sick young people and prisoners, Francis again delivered the first few lines of his prepared speech but then deviated.

He went on to offer the crowd a brief, off-the-cuff reflection on the Virgin Mary.

Francis also set aside his prepared prayer at the end of the rosary. He asked attendees to join him in praying the Hail Mary instead.

Burni says although the pope did not make a public appeal for peace at the Fatima shrine, he "prayed with pain for peace" in the world. He made this prayer during a moment of silence during the rosary, the fourth decade of which was dedicated to peace.

Pope's general health

Besides confirming Francis's eyesight is not failing, Bruni says he is well. He was no more tired than anyone else in his delegation given his busy WYD schedule.

Concern over the pope's health has increased following two hospital stays this year. One of those was for a serious bout of bronchitis and the other for surgery to repair an abdominal hernia. He also had surgery to repair cataracts last year.

Chronic sciatica and knee pain have often confined him to a wheelchair during the past year.

Reports say Francis seemed resilient and alert during his "fairly gruelling" WYD itinerary in Portugal and his voice was strong during his public addresses.

Francis returned to Rome on Sunday at the end of the 1-6 August WYD event.

Source

• CruxNow

He was unconscious when he was rushed to Rome's Gemelli hospital with bronchitis on 29 March.

Francis suffers from a number of ailments. Part of one of his lungs was removed because of an illness when he was a young man in Argentina.

Italian Michele Ferri. who is reportedly often in touch with Francis, says the Pope told him: "A few more hours and I'm not sure I would have been around to tell it."

Fortunately this didn't happen and he was discharged after three days in hospital.

He presided over all Easter celebrations except for a Good Friday night-time outdoor service in Rome. The Vatican says he skipped it due to unseasonably cold weather.

Ferri says Francis sounded better in their most recent conversation than he had the last time he spoke in January.

"He seemed very tired (back then)," he says.

The Pope's recent admission to hospital is concerning, given he could have died. "I told him: you really gave us a fright!" Ferri says.

He is widely quoted in Italian media, since Francis first called to comfort him after the death of his brother who was killed in a robbery a decade ago.

Francis is known to keep a small list of people he phones regularly, often after comforting them following tragedies. The Vatican never confirms their names but has not denied that he speaks to Ferri. It did not respond to a request for comment on Ferri's latest remarks.

Source

• USNews

However, Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni says after having routine tests Pope Francis is expected to be in hospital for several days.

"Time has been allocated in the schedule to allow for the tests to continue for as long as necessary," a Vatican source said.

The nature of the tests has initially not been disclosed by the Vatican.

According to Elisabetta Piqué, a journalist for the Argentine daily La Nacion and usually very well informed on the current pontificate, the pope was admitted to hospital after suffering a cardiac episode at the end of his midday weekly audience.

In the evening, the Vatican announced that Pope Francis has experienced "difficulties in breathing" in recent days.

The Holy See stated that doctors have detected a "respiratory infection" — not COVID-19 — that will require "a few days" of hospitalisation.

According to La Croix International's sources the tests were not "scheduled."

Francis had planned to visit a Roman prison on Wednesday to record a video segment for the RAI religious programme "A Sua Immagine."

The appointment was cancelled at the last minute.

According to La Croix International, sources say Pope Francis had planned to meet with his "foreign minister," Archbishop Paul Gallagher, on Wednesday afternoon, as he does every week and, on Wednesday morning, the appointment was still listed in the Pope's schedule.

Earlier in the day, the Pope appeared for his weekly audience, riding his customary popemobile around St Peter's Square before continuing his series of catecheses on evangelisation.

Holy Week

The Pope's illness has raised questions about his overall health and his ability to celebrate the busy Holy Week events. He is scheduled to begin these by celebrating Palm Sunday Mass in St Peter's Square on April 2.

The Vatican's Holy Week observances begin next week with Holy Thursday, Good Friday, the Easter Vigil and finally Easter Sunday on April 9.

So far the Vatican has not announced any changes to the Pope's Holy Week plans.

Bruni says Francis is grateful for the prayers and messages wishing him a speedy recovery.

Pope's health

Francis was admitted to hospital in July 2021 for a "scheduled" colon operation. His hospital stay was extended beyond the initially announced timeframe, with the Vatican stating that it was to "optimise medical care and rehabilitation."

While the Vatican had presented the surgery as routine, the Pope acknowledged its seriousness a few months later, saying that the nurse who convinced him to seek treatment had "saved his life."

Francis also suffers from severe knee pain, which has required him regularly to use a wheelchair since May 2022.

He now rarely moves without a cane to assist him, even for short distances, from his popemobile to his wheelchair.

Source

• AP News
• La Croix

But the Sydney cardinal expressed some concern for the Pope's health under the work regime he has set himself.

"He's not a young man and he seems to be working incessantly," said Cardinal Pell. "He's obviously very tough and strong after years of work, but I think it's in the interest of everybody that he doesn't work too hard, or rather that he works hard in a way that he can cope with."

In a Vatican Insider interview, the cardinal said he expects Pope Francis will bring about a significant "re-configuration" of the Roman Curia and hopes a better way can be set up to select people with the appropriate abilities for particular positions in it.

Cardinal Pell said "you might even finish up with a small committee of cardinals, with a small group servicing them, who would be able to present to the Holy Father ‘ternas' [three names] for the senior roles in the Roman Curia, such as is now being done for dioceses.

"And, of course, if he wanted to go outside the ‘terna' he would be able to do that too. I think this would ensure that you have faithful, believing, competent people for the various posts in the Curia. The best structures in the world can be damaged if you have square pegs in round holes."

The cardinal also questioned whether the Vatican has enough typists. "How many people with doctorates are spending their time typing? Now that's only one small example of the practical problems that exist today."

Cardinal Pell welcomed the fact that the leaks of confidential Vatican documents have stopped, but said the Pope will have to address the issues raised in a secret report by the three cardinals who were commissioned by Pope Benedict to study the leaks and trace their sources.

Source:

Vatican Insider

Image: Blessed Sacrament Province