Pope Francis’ condition continues to improve, and he has written the meditations that will accompany the Way of the Cross at Rome’s Colosseum on Good Friday, the director of the Holy See Press Office, Matteo Bruni, told Vatican journalists at a briefing on April 15.
On the 24th day of the at least two-month period of convalescence prescribed by Francis’ doctors, Mr. Bruni said the pope’s breathing, voice and motor activity have improved, and that he can go for long periods without receiving oxygen. This was demonstrated on Sunday when Pope Francis, not wearing nasal tubes, greeted the crowd at the end of the Palm Sunday celebration in St. Peter’s Square.
The pope continues the pharmacological, respiratory and physical therapies prescribed by his doctors when they discharged him from Gemelli Hospital on March 23.
Mr. Bruni said the 88-year-old pope continues to be under the round-the-clock medical care of his two nurses. Furthermore, Dr. Luigi Carboni, the Vatican physician and a member of the medical team that cared for the pope during his 38 days in the hospital, also visits him regularly. Mr. Bruni explained that while Francis can go without oxygen for long periods during the day, he receives high-flow oxygen through nasal tubes at night whenever he needs it.
Pope Francis continues to govern the church from his apartment in Santa Marta, the Vatican guesthouse where he has lived since his election, assisted by his three priest private secretaries. Mr. Bruni said Francis has met with the heads of some Vatican offices, including Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, the prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, to authorize the promulgation of various decrees. On April 14, the pope authorized the promulgation of decrees to declare two servants of God to be blessed: an Italian missionary priest, Nazareno Lanciotti, who was assassinated in Brazil in 2001, whom the pope recognized as a martyr; and the Indian nun Eliswa of the Blessed Virgin Mary, who died in 1913. He also authorized the promulgation of decrees for four other servants of God to be declared venerable—the last step before beatification—including the famous architect Antonio Gaudí (1852-1926), who is best known for designing the magnificent basilica of the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, Spain.
As for Holy Week and Easter ceremonies, Mr. Bruni said that Pope Francis has delegated Italian cardinal Domenico Calcagno, 82, emeritus president of the Administration of the Patrimony of the Holy See, to celebrate the Chrism Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica on Holy Thursday, April 17.
Regarding the ceremony of the washing of the feet, Mr. Bruni said the pope has done this “in private,” not in St. Peter’s Basilica, over the past 12 years, visiting prisons or other locations. He said he may do this in his private chapel on the second floor of Santa Marta this year. Other Vatican sources think that he might instead visit the six nuns of the enclosed Benedictine order from Argentina who now live in the Mater Ecclesiae monastery, where Pope Benedict XVI spent the last years of his life.
Pope Francis has delegated another Italian cardinal, Claudio Gugerotti, 69, the prefect of the Dicastery for the Eastern Churches, to preside at the liturgy commemorating the Passion and Crucifixion of Jesus in St. Peter’s Basilica on Good Friday, April 18.
Pope Francis has delegated Cardinal Baldassare Reina, 54, the vicar general of the Diocese of Rome, to preside at the Way of the Cross at Rome’s Colosseum on the evening of Good Friday.
Mr. Bruni said, however, that the pope has not yet delegated a cardinal to preside at the Easter Vigil in St. Peter’s Basilica or the Easter Sunday morning Mass in St. Peter’s Square.
He said he may have more information later in the week about those liturgies as well as the “urbi et orbi” blessing—for the city of Rome (“urbi”) and the world (“orbi”)—which the pope traditionally gives at midday on Easter Sunday. It seems clear that the pope cannot read a long text; he can at most give brief remarks and a blessing. Mr. Bruni explained that while Francis can hold conversations in private, he is not yet able to speak at length in public.
There is widespread expectation among journalists and in the Vatican that Pope Francis will appear for a short time at the main Holy Week ceremonies, just as he did on Palm Sunday when he arrived for 10 minutes at the end of Mass. Mr. Bruni, however, preferred not to make any predictions; he explained that much will depend on how well the pope is feeling on a given day and on the weather conditions in Rome.
Asked whether the pope would meet with the vice president of the United States, JD Vance, a Catholic convert who will be in Rome for the Easter weekend and is scheduled to meet the Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Good Friday, Mr. Bruni said he did not have information on that but promised he would inform journalists if he receives such news. He plans to brief journalists again on Friday.
