Loading...
Loading...
Click here if you don’t see subscription options
Gerard O’ConnellFebruary 15, 2025
Votive candles, including some bearing a photo of Pope Francis, are seen on the base of a statue of St. John Paul II outside Rome's Gemelli hospital Feb. 15, 2025. (CNS photo/Pablo Esparza)Votive candles, including some bearing a photo of Pope Francis, are seen on the base of a statue of St. John Paul II outside Rome's Gemelli hospital Feb. 15, 2025. (CNS photo/Pablo Esparza)

Pope Francis’ condition is improving, but to facilitate his recovery the doctors at the Gemelli Hospital have prescribed that he observe “total rest,” the Vatican press office announced in a communique released at 6 p.m. local time. That means that for the second time in 12 years, Pope Francis will not lead the noonday Angelus prayer on Feb.16.

The communique confirmed that the pope had “rested all night” on Feb. 14, his first night in hospital, and did not have any “episodes of fever.” It reported that “the examinations carried in the course of the day confirmed the infection of the respiratory tracts” and said the hospital doctors “modified the [pharmacological] therapy on the basis of further microbiological findings.”

Anna Lisa Bilotta, an Italian doctor who reviewed the communique but who is not treating Pope Francis, told America that the most recent laboratory tests indicated the pope’s condition was improving. She explained that this suggests “the therapy is working and the infection is decreasing.” Dr. Bilotta underlined the fact that the doctors have prescribed that Francis has “total rest” and said “this is likely to be for some days to enable the therapy to take full effect.”

Although the Holy Father will not lead the prayer of the Angelus, he has forwarded the text for publication. The Vatican statement said Pope Francis received the Holy Eucharist on Saturday morning and during the day “alternated moments of rest with prayer and reading.”

This is the pope’s fourth recovery in the Gemelli Hospital since July 4, 2021, his first hospitalization at the Roman hospital. Catholics and other believers across the world are praying for his full recovery, and many have sent him messages.

According to the statement: “The Holy Father has been informed of the many messages of closeness and affection received. He expresses his gratitude [for these] and asks for continued prayers for him.”

The latest from america

Israeli activists take part in a protest against the war in the Gaza Strip, Israel's measures regarding food distribution and the forced displacement of Palestinians, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Tuesday, July 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
Observers around the world have grown weary of the images of starving children and desperate people gunned down while trying to collect bags of flour or boxes of food.
Kevin ClarkeJuly 24, 2025
A woman reads a book while sitting on the bank of a calm river, with mountains in the background. (iStock/swissmediavision)
After four decades in education, both secular and Catholic, I have witnessed teaching models come and go. The moment before us, however, is not a passing phase; it is a threshold.
Sarah GallagherJuly 24, 2025
The relics of Blesseds Pier Giorgio Frassati and Carlo Acutis, who are set to be canonized later this year, will be displayed in Rome for the Jubilee of Youth.
The Irish government “has done nothing to reduce the numbers of abortions…and seems not to care why women choose abortion, or what happens to them afterwards,” Bishop Kevin Doran of Elphin and Achonry said.