Children pray for Pope Francis' recovery as he remains in hospital

Euronews

16-03-2025

The recapture of the largest town that Ukraine had occupied in Russia's Kursk region is another gain in Russia's offensive to push Ukrainian forces out of their territory.
Reports suggest Sudzha was one of the hardest-fought battles in the more than three year-long war.
Sudzha had a reported population of about 5,000 people before the offensive, but is now reported to be greatly damaged.
Ukraine's top military commander, Oleksandr Syrskyi, said on Thursday that Russian aircraft had conducted so many strikes on Kursk, that the town is almost completely destroyed.
Over the past weeks, Russian troops have recaptured much of the area that Ukraine seized after its surprise cross-border attack in the Kursk region in August last year.
The Kursk region has started planning the reconstruction and development of areas recaptured from Ukrainian control, Alexander Khinshtein, the acting governor of the region, said on Saturday.
According to Khinshtein, the most urgent tasks are to thoroughly clear landmines and restore the population to the levels before the Ukrainian forces entered the region.
Also on Saturday, the Russian Defence Ministry said its engineering units have already started demining operations in reclaimed border areas of the Kursk region.
The efforts are aimed at restoring essential infrastructure and allowing economic activities to resume following intense combat, the ministry said in a statement.
Meanwhile, Ukraine's northern city of Chernihiv was struck by multiple Russian drones in overnight attacks according to the head of the Chernihiv City Military Administration Dmytro Bryzhynskyi.
Russian drones hit residential high-rise buildings causing a fire that was put out by rescuers.
Bryzhynskyi also reported that a drone hit a five-story building and damaged private houses.
Also in the Chernihiv region, a Russian ballistic missile reportedly crashed outside the border town of Semenivka, near Russia, causing a partial power outage according to Ukrainian authorities.
Pope Francis continues his recovery from double pneumonia at Rome's Gemelli hospital and issued the traditional Sunday Angelus prayer as a written text for the fifth straight week.
The pope typically delivers the Angelus from a window overlooking St Peter's Square to the gathered faithful, who have grown more numerous due to the Jubilee year that Francis inaugurated in December.
Along with a stop at St Peter's to seek indulgences by walking through the basilica's Holy Door, pilgrims are now also adding a stop at Gemelli, some 15 minutes away from the Vatican by car.
In Sunday's prayer, Pope Francis acknowledged the dozens of children toting yellow and white balloons who had gathered outside Gemelli to pray for his recovery.
'I know that many children are praying for me; some of them came here today to Gemelli as a sign of closeness,'' the pontiff said in the Angelus text prepared for the traditional prayer but not delivered live again.
'Thank you, dearest children! The pope loves you and is always waiting to meet you,'' Francis said.
The event was organised by Reverend Enzo Fortunato, president of the pontifical committee for World Children's Day. He said that the gathering of children with their parents was as a form of spiritual medicine for the 88-year-old pontiff, calling it ''the most beautiful caress.''
'The children represent a symbolic medicine for Pope Francis,'' Fortunato said. ''Letting him know that so many children are here for him cheers the heart.''
They included 20 children accompanied by the St. Egidio charity and 50 children accompanied by UNICEF.
Thousands of runners taking part in this year's Rome Marathon on Sunday also paid tribute to the pope. They stood for 42 seconds in silence for Pope Francis, one for every kilometre on the 42 kilometre marathon.
Doctors this week said the 88-year-old pontiff was no longer in critical, life-threatening condition, but have continued to emphasise that his condition remained complex due to his age, lack of mobility and the loss of part of a lung as a young man.
Still, they are issuing fewer medical bulletins as the pontiff has been on an upward trajectory. An x-ray this week confirmed that the infection was clearing.
A post was published on his X account at midday on Sunday, saying, "Our bodies are weak but ... nothing can prevent us from loving, praying, giving ourselves, being for each other, in faith, shining signs of hope."
Pope Francis has not been seen publicly since he was admitted to the hospital on 14 February after a bout of bronchitis that made it difficult for him to speak. Doctors soon added a diagnosis of double pneumonia and a polymcrobial —bacterial, viral and fungal — infection.
The first three weeks of his hospitalisation were marked by a rollercoaster of setbacks, including respiratory crises, mild kidney failure and a severe coughing fit.
Doctors in the most recent medical update on Saturday said they were working to reduce the pope's night-time reliance on the non-invasive ventilation mask, which will allow his lungs to work more.
Doctors underlined that while the pope's condition is stable, he still requires hospitalisation for both physical and respiratory therapy, which are "showing further gradual improvements,' the Vatican said Saturday in the first medical update in three days.
The next update won't be issued until the middle of next week, the Vatican said.
The administration of US President Donald Trump has launched a broad cutback of Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and other government programmes aimed at defending democracy. The organisation's director said all Voice of America staff have been placed on "administrative" leave.
On Friday night, shortly after Congress passed the latest funding bill, Trump instructed his administration to reduce the functions of several agencies to the minimum required by law. These included the U.S. Global Media Agency, a budget-funded government organisation to which the Voice of America, Radio Free Europe and Asia, and Radio Marti, which broadcasts Spanish-language news to Cuba, all report.
On Saturday morning, Carey Lake, a failed gubernatorial and US Senate candidate from Arizona whom Trump appointed as a senior adviser to the agency, wrote on website X that employees should check their emails.
In another post she described the U.S. Global Media Agency as "the most corrupt agency in Washington DC."
The video released by Lake talks about cost-cutting measures but does not mention Voice of America's staff or mission. The video was filmed in a building leased by VOA, which Lake called a waste of money. She said she would try to terminate the agency's 15-year lease on the building.
"We're doing everything we can to cancel contracts that can be cancelled, save money, reduce staffing and make sure your dollars are not misused," she said.
The letter places employees on administrative leave and says they will continue to receive pay and benefits "until notified otherwise." The letter instructs employees not to use the Global Media Agency's facilities and to return equipment such as phones and computers.
In a post on X the Czech Republic's foreign minister said he would raise the cuts with the Council of Europe on Monday.
"Radio Free Europe is one of the few credible sources in dictatorships like Iran, Belarus, and Afghanistan. Tomorrow at the Council of Foreign Ministers, I will discuss with my colleagues how to at least partially maintain its broadcasting," Jan Lipavský said.
"For the first time in 83 years, the illustrious Voice of America has gone silent," the organisation's director Michael Abramowitz said in a statement. He added that virtually the entire staff of 1,300 people has been put on leave.
"Voice of America promotes freedom and democracy around the world by telling America's story and providing objective and balanced news and information, especially for those living under tyranny," Abramowitz said.
One reporter, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the press, said: "We expected something like this to happen, and it happened just today."
Reporters Without Borders, an international non-governmental organisation, said it "condemns the decision as a departure from the historic role of the United States as a defender of free information and calls on the US government to reinstate Voice of America and calls on Congress and the international community to take action against this unprecedented move."
The US Global Media Agency has also sent out notices terminating grants for Radio Free Asia and other programmes under its purview. "Voice of America" broadcasts United States domestic news to other countries, often translated into local languages. Radio Free Asia, Radio Free Europe and Marty broadcast news to countries with authoritarian regimes in those regions, particularly China, North Korea and Russia.
"The cancellation of the Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty grant agreement will be a huge gift to America's enemies," network president and CEO Stephen Capus said in a statement.
Together, the networks reach about 427 million people. They date back to the Cold War and are part of a network of government-funded organisations trying to expand US influence and fight authoritarianism. These organisations include USAID, another agency that Trump has opposed.
The cuts are a sharp blow to a key element of the post-Cold War order, which has long enjoyed bipartisan support. Voice of America executives included Dick Carlson, father of conservative commentator Tucker Carlson.
Thomas Kent, former president and CEO of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, said Trump's intentions for those agencies are still murky. Without these news sources, he said, it will be much harder for the country to get its message out to the world.
"Without international broadcasting, the image of the United States and the Trump administration will be in the hands of others, including opponents of the administration, (as well as) countries and people who view the United States as an enemy," said Kent, an international media ethics consultant.
Trump's downsizing order also includes several other lesser-known government agencies such as the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars (a nonpartisan think tank), the US Interagency Council on Homelessness and the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund.