Sticking to doctors' advice, Pope Francis on Sunday skipped his customary Sunday noon public blessing as he convalesces from abdominal surgery, but he followed Mass on TV from a Rome hospital and prayed in private, the Vatican said.
Francis also ate lunch in his 10-floor hospital apartment with doctors, nurses, other medical staff and members of his Vatican security detail, Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said in a written statement.
Dr. Sergio Alfieri also told reporters that medical staff had made clear to Francis their concerns that even if the pontiff delivered the noon public blessing and greeting from a balcony down the corridor from his hospital room, he might over-exert himself and tear a prosthetic mesh that was inserted as part of the hernia repair.
Citing the assessment of medical personnel, Bruni said Sunday the pontiff's recovery was proceeding normally. “He did respiratory physiotherapy and continued to be mobile,” Bruni said. On Sunday morning, the pope "followed Holy Mass live on television and received the Eucharist,'' Bruni said. Francis then recited the traditional noon prayer known as the Angelus in a small chapel area of the papal apartment that Gemelli keeps ready for whenever pontiffs might need hospitalization.
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