Pope Francis has been cleared by doctors for discharge on Saturday from the Rome hospital where he was treated for bronchitis, the Vatican said, adding that the pontiff had pizza one evening with medical staff and baptized a baby in the pediatrics ward.
Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni, in one of several updates on Friday, also said that Francis will be in St. Peter’s Square for Palm Sunday Mass at the start of Holy Week, although he didn’t say if the pontiff would deliver the homily during the particularly lengthy service.
Calling the pontiff’s medical recovery “normal,” Bruni said earlier in the day that on Thursday evening, “Pope Francis had dinner, eating a pizza, together with all those who are assisting him in these days of the hospital stay,” including doctors, nurses, assistants and Vatican security personnel. The Vatican on Thursday said that antibiotic treatment for bronchitis had resulted in a “marked” improvement in his health.
Francis then asked the mother to dry her son’s wet forehead. He then told her: ”When you go to your parish, say that the pope baptized him.“ “When experienced with faith, the trials and difficulties of life serve to purify our hearts, making them humbler and thus more and more open to God,” Francis wrote. The tweet carried a hashtag for Lent, the period of the liturgical year stressing penitence and sacrifice in the run-up to the joyous Church celebration of Easter, which marks the Christian belief that Jesus rose from the dead after his crucifixion.
Francis had already largely stopped celebrating Mass at major Catholic Church holy days because of a chronic knee problem, but had continued to preside at the ceremonies and deliver homilies.
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