Pope Francis is working from his bed at Rome’s Gemelli University Hospital, where he has been since Feb. 14 amid a scary bout of double pneumonia, but the 88-year-old is not out of the woods yet.
“The night passed quietly; the Pope is resting,” the Vatican said in a press release early Saturday. The pontiff has “resumed the prescribed therapies, including motor physiotherapy,” it said.
The leader of the world’s 1.3 billion Roman Catholics spent Friday praying, resting and working while continuing his respiratory therapy.
During the day, the Pope receives oxygen through a nasal tube, but at night he is still being treated with non-invasive mechanical ventilation, the Vatican said, adding that his “prognosis remains guarded.”
From his bed, he sent a message to all those participating in a pilgrimage organized by the Italian Movement for Life, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary.
“I encourage you to pursue the social protection of motherhood and the acceptance of human life at every stage,” he wrote in the letter.
“In this half-century, while some ideological prejudices have diminished and sensitivity for the care of creation has grown among young people, unfortunately the culture of rejection has spread.”
He not only called for the protection of unborn children, but also the terminally sick and elderly.
“Therefore, there is still, and more than ever, a need for people of all ages to concretely devote themselves to the service of human life, especially when it is at its most fragile and vulnerable; because it is sacred, created by God for a great and beautiful destiny; and because a just society is not built by eliminating unwanted unborn children, the elderly who are no longer independent, or the incurably ill.”
Francis also prepared a homily for Sunday’s special mass in St. Peter’s Square honoring volunteers, one of the major Jubilee events in the church calendar this year, which will see around 25,000 people from over 100 countries in Rome this weekend.
Cardinal Michael Czerny, who leads the Vatican office that focuses on refugees, human rights, disarmament and charitable works, will read in his absence.
