Pope Francis and Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. / Vatican Media
Vatican City, Jul 6, 2021 / 05:00 am (CNA).
Pope emeritus Benedict XVI is praying for Pope Francis after he underwent intestinal surgery on Sunday.Archbishop Georg Gänswein, Benedict’s… […]
Pope Francis attends a Prayer Meeting for Peace in Rome’s Piazza del Campidoglio Oct. 20, 2020. / Vatican Media.
Vatican City, Jul 5, 2021 / 04:20 am (CNA).
Pope Francis is expected to spend the next week in hospital as he recovers from intestinal surgery, according to the Vatican.
“His Holiness Pope Francis is in good general condition, alert and breathing spontaneously,” Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni told journalists on July 5.
The pope underwent a surgery at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital on July 4 to relieve stricture of the colon caused by diverticulitis.
The surgery lasted for about three hours and included a hemicolectomy, which is the removal of the left part of the colon.
The procedure was carried out under general anesthesia. Dr. Sergio Alfieri performed the surgery with the assistance of nine other physicians.
Colonic stricture, also called stenosis, is a condition in which part of the large intestine becomes narrower than usual. It can become dangerous if it is too narrow to let food safely pass through.
Diverticulitis, a common condition that involves the formation of small bulges or sacs on the wall of the colon, can cause the stricture.
Recovery from diverticulitis surgery typically includes a hospital stay of up to a week and at least another two weeks of limited activity.
As of July 5, there are no major events scheduled on Pope Francis’ public calendar for the upcoming weeks. The pope traditionally suspends his general audiences during July.
At the age of 84, Pope Francis has only had one other operation during his eight years as pope. He last underwent an operation in 2019, for cataracts.
Earlier this year, the pope was forced to miss several public events due to a recurrence of the sciatic pain that struck him at the end of 2020. Francis has suffered from the painful condition for several years.
After his personal physician died from complications related to COVID-19 in January, Pope Francis appointed internalist Roberto Bernabei as his doctor.
Bernabei is a specialist in aging and director of the School of Specialization in Geriatrics at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Rome. He was present in the surgical suite during the pope’s intestinal surgery in Gemelli hospital.
The Catholic hospital and medical school has treated other popes and Catholic figures, including John Paul II after he was shot in an assassination attempt and Mother Teresa, who was treated in the clinic’s cardiology department.
Pope Francis stands outside a car during the general audience June 30, 2021. / Pablo Esparza/CNA.
Rome, Italy, Jul 4, 2021 / 08:12 am (CNA).
Pope Francis is at a Rome hospital Sunday to undergo a surgery to relieve stricture of the colon caused … […]
Pope Francis gives his Sunday Angelus address overlooking St. Peter’s Square June 27, 2021. / Vatican Media/CNA.
Vatican City, Jul 4, 2021 / 06:05 am (CNA).
The Vatican confirmed Sunday that Pope Francis will travel to Hungary and Slovakia in September.
The pope will visit Budapest on Sept. 12 for the concluding Mass of the 52nd International Eucharistic Congress. He will then travel to the Slovakian cities of Bratislava, Prešov, Košice and Šaštin from Sept. 12 to 15.
The trip was confirmed July 4 by the director of the Holy See Press Office, Matteo Bruni, who said details about the pope’s program in Slovakia will be published at a later date.
Pope Francis himself announced his trip to Slovakia after his noon Angelus address: “I am pleased to announce that from 12 to 15 September next, God willing, I will go to Slovakia to make a pastoral visit,” he said from a window overlooking St. Peter’s Square.
Pilgrims from Slovakia present in the square responded to the announcement with cheers, and the pope noted their presence. “The Slovaks are happy there!” he said.
“I sincerely thank all those who are preparing this journey and I pray for them,” Francis said. “Let’s all pray for this trip and for the people who are working to organize it.”
In his Angelus address July 4, Pope Francis reflected on “the comfort of habit and the dictatorship of prejudice,” which prevents us from really knowing Jesus and the people around us.
His exegesis centered on the day’s Gospel reading from St. Mark. In the passage, Jesus preaches in the synagogue in Nazareth, but his fellow villagers react by asking themselves: “What kind of wisdom has been given him? What mighty deeds are wrought by his hands! Is he not the carpenter, the son of Mary, and the brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon?”
“We could say that they know Jesus, but they do not recognize him,” the pope said. They “have known him for 30 years and think they know everything.”
“In reality, they never realized who Jesus really is,” he said.
Francis noted that the same thing can happen in our own lives with the people around us: we see someone in our neighborhood, meet them occasionally, but “it is an ordinary, superficial knowledge that does not recognize the uniqueness of that person.”
“It is a risk that we all run: we think we know a lot about a person, and the worst is that we label them and shut them up in our prejudices,” he said.
“And here we get to the very heart of the problem,” Pope Francis continued, “when we make the comfort of habit and the dictatorship of prejudice prevail, it is difficult to open up to novelty and be surprised.”
He encouraged Catholics to foster amazement in their faith life.
“Without amazement, faith becomes a tired litany that slowly dies out and becomes a habit,” he said. “What is it, amazement? Amazement is precisely when the encounter with God happens.”
God became incarnate and he draws near to us in the normal activities of our lives, Francis said.
“And then, it happens to us as to the fellow villagers of Jesus, we risk that, when he passes by, we do not recognize him.”
“Now, in prayer, let us ask the Madonna, who welcomed the mystery of God in her daily life in Nazareth, for eyes and hearts free of prejudices and to have eyes open to be amazed: ‘Lord, that we might meet you.’”
“We meet him in the normal: eyes open to God’s surprises, at his humble and hidden presence in daily life,” he concluded.
Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu, center, in 2015. / Alan Holdren/CNA.
Vatican City, Jul 3, 2021 / 11:50 am (CNA).
The Vatican’s court announced Saturday that it had indicted 10 individuals, including Cardinal Angelo Becciu, on charges including … […]
Pope Francis meets with Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi / Vatican Media.
Vatican City, Jul 2, 2021 / 13:00 pm (CNA).
Pope Francis and Iraq’s Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi discussed the importance of protecting the Christian presence … […]
The official logo of the 2022 World Meeting of Families in Rome. / Diocese of Rome.
Vatican City, Jul 2, 2021 / 07:40 am (CNA).
Pope Francis called Friday for local gatherings to be held across the globe at the same time as next year’s World Mee… […]
St. Peter’s Square. / Mazur/catholicnews.org.uk.
Vatican City, Jul 2, 2021 / 05:00 am (CNA).
A suspended Secretariat of State official was paid a side fee by a Swiss bank for bringing in Vatican investment funds, according to an Italian media re… […]
Pope Francis waves to pilgrims during his March 28, 2018 general audience in St. Peter’s Square. / Daniel Ibáñez/CNA.
Vatican City, Jul 2, 2021 / 03:05 am (CNA).
Pope Francis said Friday that there “cannot and must not” be any opposition between faith and science.
The pope made the comment in a video message to participants in the “Science for Peace” event, an international meeting held on July 2-3 in the Abruzzo region of southern Italy.
“Dear and distinguished scientists, your meeting is a great gift of hope for humanity,” the pope said.
“Never before as in this time have we been aware of the need to relaunch scientific research to face the challenges of contemporary society.”
“And I am pleased that it is the diocesan community of Teramo which is promoting this meeting, thus testifying that there cannot and must not be any opposition between faith and science.”
The gathering, promoted by the Diocese of Teramo-Atri, is hosted by the University of Teramo and the Sanctuary of St. Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows.
The sanctuary — at the foot of the Gran Sasso d’Italia, a massif in the Apennine Mountains — is the burial place of St. Gabriel, an Italian Passionist, and a popular pilgrimage destination.
The Church is currently celebrating the centenary of St. Gabriel’s canonization. The Jubilee of St. Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows began on Feb. 27 and will end on the same date in 2022.
The Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, the world’s largest underground research center, is located beneath the massif.
Referring to his latest encyclical, Fratelli tutti, the pope said it was vital that scientists worked together for the good of all.
“Moreover, as I noted in the encyclical, it is important not to overlook the ‘risk that a single scientific advance will be seen as the only possible lens for viewing a particular aspect of life, society, and the world,’” he said.
The pope noted that the coronavirus pandemic had prompted the scientific community to rethink “prevention, treatment, and health organization,” paying greater attention to relations between people.
He said: “Faced with the new challenges, you are entrusted, dear friends in science — yes, you! – with the task of testifying to the possibility of building a new social bond, endeavoring to bring scientific research closer to all the community, from the local to the international, and that together it is possible to overcome every conflict.”
“Science is a great resource for building peace!”
Pope Francis takes part in a day of reflection and prayer for Lebanon, July 1, 2021. / Vatican Media.
Vatican City, Jul 1, 2021 / 11:23 am (CNA).
Hosting a day of prayer for Lebanon with Catholic and Orthodox leaders on Thursday, Pope Francis sa… […]
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