logo
Pope offers prayers for quake-stricken Southeast Asia from convalescence in Vatican

Pope offers prayers for quake-stricken Southeast Asia from convalescence in Vatican

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis offered prayers to the victims of a powerful earthquake in Southeast Asia on Friday, the sixth day of his convalescence in the Vatican after a five-week hospitalization for life-threatening double pneumonia.
'The pope has been informed of the disaster in Myanmar and is praying for the dramatic situation and for the many victims, also in Thailand,'' the Vatican said.
Images showed widespread destruction in Myanmar's second-largest city from the 7.7 magnitude quake centered in a country embroiled by civil war, which also rocked neighboring Thailand.
Since returning to the Vatican on Sunday, the pope has continued physical and respiratory therapy, with slight improvements in both his speaking and movements, the Vatican said without providing further details. He continues to be treated for a lingering fungal infection of the respiratory airways.
The pontiff appeared weak and frail when he greeted the faithful from a balcony of the Gemelli Hospital last Sunday. He was later seen in the front seat of his white Fiat 500L wearing nasal tubes to receive supplemental oxygen.
At the Vatican, Francis is receiving oxygen around the clock, with high-pressure delivery through nasal tubes only for part of the night. He can go without for short periods if an activity requires it, Vatican sources said.
He has received no outside visitors since returning to his residence in the Domus Santa Marta, and is surrounded by his medical team and close collaborators. He spends his time resting, in prayer and continuing the work of his papacy, the Vatican said.
Doctors have said he needs to spend at least two months of rest and recovery, avoiding large gatherings, after the respiratory illness that included two serious crises that brought him near death. The doctor who coordinated his hospital treatment, Dr. Sergio Alfieri, said this week that the medical team briefly considered stopping treatment after a Feb. 28 respiratory crisis, before deciding on an aggressive course that eventually beat the double pneumonia.
The Vatican has not yet commented on whether he will participate in any Holy Week celebrations including Easter on April 20, or the April 27 canonization of Carlo Acutis, who will be the Catholic Church's first millennial saint.
King Charles III's audience with Francis planned for April 8 was .
The Vatican No. 2, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, met Friday with Polish President Andrzej Duda on the 20th anniversary of the death of St. John Paul II — a meeting originally planned with the pope. The two also discussed the war in Ukraine

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Kennedy names 8 vaccine committee replacements, including COVID shot critic
Kennedy names 8 vaccine committee replacements, including COVID shot critic

Yahoo

time2 hours ago

  • Yahoo

Kennedy names 8 vaccine committee replacements, including COVID shot critic

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Wednesday named eight new vaccine policy advisers to replace the panel that he abruptly dismissed earlier this week. They include a scientist who researched mRNA vaccine technology and transformed into a conservative darling for his criticisms of COVID-19 vaccines, and a leading critic of pandemic-era lockdowns. Kennedy's decision to 'retire' the previous 17-member panel was widely decried by doctors' groups and public health organizations, who feared the advisers would be replaced by a group aligned with Kennedy's desire to reassess — and possibly end — longstanding vaccination recommendations. The new appointees to the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices include Dr. Robert Malone, the former mRNA researcher who emerged as a close adviser to Kennedy during the measles outbreak. Malone, who runs a wellness institute and a popular blog, rose to popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic as he relayed conspiracy theories around the outbreak and the vaccines that followed. He has appeared on podcasts and other conservative news outlets where he's promoted unproven and alternative treatments for measles and COVID-19. He has claimed that millions of Americans were hypnotized into taking the COVID-19 shots. He's even suggested that those vaccines cause a form of AIDS. He's downplayed deaths related to one of the largest measles outbreaks in the U.S. in years. Other appointees include Dr. Martin Kulldorff, a biostatistician and epidemiologist who was a co-author of the Great Barrington Declaration, an October 2020 letter maintaining that pandemic shutdowns were causing irreparable harm. Dr. Cody Meissner, a former ACIP member, also was named. Kennedy made the announcement in a social media post on Wednesday. The committee, created in 1964, makes recommendations to the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. CDC directors almost always approve those recommendations on how Food and Drug Administration-cleared vaccines should be used. The CDC's final recommendations are widely heeded by doctors and determine the scope of vaccination programs. ___ Associated Press reporter Amanda Seitz contributed to this report. ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Hundreds of laid-off CDC employees are being reinstated
Hundreds of laid-off CDC employees are being reinstated

Yahoo

time3 hours ago

  • Yahoo

Hundreds of laid-off CDC employees are being reinstated

NEW YORK (AP) — More than 460 laid-off employees at the nation's top public health agency received notices Wednesday that they are being reinstated, according to a union representing the workers. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services confirmed reinstatement notices went out to the former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention employees, but provided few details. About 2,400 CDC employees lost their jobs in a wave of cuts across federal health agencies in early April, according to a tally at the time. Whole CDC programs were essentially shut down, including some focused on smoking, lead poisoning, gun violence, asthma and air quality, and workplace safety and health. The entire office that handles Freedom of Information Act requests was shuttered. Infectious disease programs took a hit, too, including programs that fight outbreaks in other countries, labs focused on HIV and hepatitis in the U.S., and staff trying to eliminate tuberculosis. An estimated 200 of the reinstated workers are based in the CDC's National Center for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and Tuberculosis Prevention, HHS officials confirmed. Staffers at a CDC lab that does testing for sexually transmitted diseases are being brought back, said one CDC employee who wasn't authorized to discuss what happened and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. Also reinstated are an estimated 150 employees at the CDC's National Center for Environmental Health, including people staffing a lab that works on lead poisoning, according to the union and employees. Layoffs at federal agencies were challenged in lawsuits, with judges in some cases ordering federal agencies to halt terminations of employees. Officials at HHS have never detailed how they made the layoff decisions in the first place. And they did not answer questions about why the notices went out, or how decisions were made about who to bring back. HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon said the agency was streamlining operations and that 'the nation's critical public health functions remain intact and effective.' "The Trump Administration is committed to protecting essential services — whether it's supporting coal miners and firefighters through NIOSH, safeguarding public health through lead prevention, or researching and tracking the most prevalent communicable diseases,' he said. This is not the first time that employees at the Atlanta-based agency were told they were being terminated only to then be told to come back. After an earlier round of termination notices went out in February, about 180 CDC employees in March were told to come back. __ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store