Vatican releases photo of Pope Francis at Mass in hospital

Euronews

17-03-2025

Authorities detained 15 people after a massive fire tore through an overcrowded nightclub in eastern North Macedonia on Sunday, killing 59 people and injuring more than 150.
The blaze broke out around 2:30 am during a concert by a local pop group at the club, Interior Minister Panche Toshkovski told reporters. He said 39 of the dead had so far been identified.
Authorities warn the death toll may rise further, as 20 of those injured remain in critical condition. The government has declared seven days of national mourning to honour the victims of the tragedy.
The blaze in the eastern town of Kočani left primarily young people dead and injured due to burns, smoke inhalation and a stampede in the desperate effort to reach the building's single exit, officials said. People as young as 16 were among the casualties.
'We even tried to get out through the bathroom, only to find bars (on the windows),' said Marija Taseva, a 19-year-old survivor who suffered an injury to the face.
"I somehow managed to get out. I fell down the stairs and they ran over me, trampled me. ... I barely stayed alive and could hardly breathe," added Taseva.
The fire caused the roof of the single-story building to partially collapse, revealing the charred remains of wooden beams and debris. Police cordoned off the site and sent in evidence-gathering teams in an operation also involving state prosecutors.
Toshkovski said 15 people were detained for questioning after a preliminary inspection revealed the club was operating without a proper licence. He said the number of people inside the club was at least double its official capacity of 250.
'We have grounds for suspicion that there is bribery and corruption in this case,' he told reporters without elaborating further.
The fire is the worst tragedy in recent memory to befall the landlocked nation of around 1.8 million, and the latest in several large-scale deadly nightclub fires around the world in recent years.
Condolences poured in from leaders around Europe as well as from the office of Pope Francis, who has been hospitalised for a month for double pneumonia.
The pontiff expressed his 'profound condolences' and assured his remembrance in prayer for those who lost their lives. He also 'invoked the lord's comfort for those suffering'. Pope Francis' words came in a telegram, signed by Secretary of State of the Hole See, Pietro Parolin.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen took to X, formerly Twitter, to express her condolences to the victims and their relatives. 'I grieve the tragic loss of life in the fire in Kočani'.
'The EU stands in solidarity with the people of North Macedonia in this difficult time,' she added.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also sent messages of support. 'I wish those who were injured a speedy recovery. Ukraine mourns alongside our Macedonian friends on this sad day,' Zelenskyy wrote in a post on X.
Health ministry officials said the government had accepted offers of assistance from several neighbouring countries, including Bulgaria, Greece, Serbia and Turkey, where preparations were being made to receive patients with life-threatening injuries.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić said he's instructed the government to mobilise support and make available any needed resources to help 'make the tragedy smaller'.
In the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki, three people with severe burns – two aged 25 and a 19-year-old – were being treated at a hospital, with one undergoing surgery, health authorities said. Their conditions are critical.
On Sunday, relatives gathered in front of hospitals and city offices in Kočani – about 115 km east of the capital Skopje – begging authorities for more information. Resident Dragi Stojanov was informed that his 21-year-old son, Tomche, had died in the fire.
'He was my only child. I don't need my life anymore. 150 families have been devastated," he said. 'Children burnt beyond recognition. There are corpses, just corpses inside (the club). And the bosses (of organised crime), are just putting money into their pockets.'
North Macedonia's President Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova visited burn victims at a hospital in Skopje and spoke to parents waiting outside.
'It's terrible. Hard to believe how this happened,' she said, her voice halting with emotion. 'We must give these young people courage to continue.'
Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski said it had been 'the most difficult day of my life,' adding that the country must defeat corruption.
'I entered politics to change something. I encountered a deeply corrupt system that has been created and nurtured for decades, which includes people from all parties, from all profiles. If that system does not collapse, this country will never exist,' he said in a statement.
North Macedonia's government ordered a sweeping inspection to be carried out at all nightclubs and cabarets across the country over the next three days.
The Vatican released on Sunday the first photograph of Pope Francis in a month, showing the pontiff in a view from behind wearing a purple stole – typical of Lenten liturgical vestments – and sitting in a wheelchair before an altar at the hospital chapel.
The Vatican said he was participating in the celebration of the Mass with other priests from the Gemelli hospital in Rome.
This is the first mention the Vatican has made of the pontiff's participation in celebrating Mass since his 14 February hospitalisation. Pope Francis was rushed to hospital after a week-long bout with chronic bronchitis turned into double pneumonia.
There was no obvious sign that he was receiving supplemental oxygen, mentioned in medical bulletins.
Doctors this week announced that the pontiff was no longer in critical condition, but have continued to emphasise that his condition remained complex due to several factors. They cited Pope Francis' age, lack of mobility and the loss of part of a lung as a young man, as potential reasons for concern, warranting constant monitoring.
In an audio recording released last week, the pope spoke in a feeble and laboured voice as he thanked the faithful in St Peter's square for their prayers and recovery wishes.
His condition has been on the rise lately, gradually improving over the last week, prompting the Vatican to suspend morning updates and issue less frequent medical bulletins. An X-ray this week confirmed that his respiratory infection was clearing.
In the most recent bulletin on Saturday, doctors said they were working to reduce the pope's reliance on a non-invasive ventilation mask at night, in hopes of getting his lungs to work more. He was still continuing to receive high-flow supplemental oxygen, delivered by a nasal tube during the day.
Dozens of tango dancers gathered at the Gemelli hospital in Rome to dance the tango for Pope Francis, where he is being treated for double pneumonia.
The idea of dancing the tango in front of the hospital came from dancer Daiana Guspero, who brought together several tangueros to make the pontiff feel the 'energy of the tango'.
'I was lucky enough to meet him, to dance for him, to dance for the Pope,' she said, adding that when she met Pope Francis she asked him if she could give him a 'tango hug' to which he replied, 'How I would love to dance a tango with you.'
Guspero thinks it's "wonderful" that the pope, being Argentinian, loves tango as much as the tangueros do.
Francis did not appear from the 10th-floor suite of windows as he is still recovering from his complex lung condition.
The next update won't be issued until mid-week, the Vatican said.
In his speech at his centre-left PSOE party congress in Cantabria, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said Spain must show solidarity with countries on Russia's borders, as Moscow continues to threaten democracy and rule-based order.
"What is at stake is not simply a war or an invasion. There is something much more besides this, which would be important in itself, and that is that the multilateral order is at stake," Sánchez said at the closing event on Sunday, stressing that it is a system based on principles established in the United Nations Charter.
The Spanish leader indicated that the aim is to achieve a "just and lasting" peace in Ukraine, where "peace is urgent, but not at the cost of rewarding the aggressor, which will open the door to future, even more serious aggressions."
He was also blunt in declaring that "if Ukraine wants to be part of the European Union, Russia has to respect what Ukraine wants to be".
Sánchez, however, acknowledged the different security realities faced by European countries, admitting that "defence in the east of Europe has nothing to do with the security challenges we have in Spain."
Despite this, the president said that Spain would help those under threat.
"We are not going to have a physical attack from Russia like some of the Baltic or Nordic countries, such as Finland, might have," Sánchez said.
"They need our solidarity and they need and demand that together we increase our security capacity to dissuade Russia," he explained, reaffirming Spain's pro-European commitment both "out of interest" and "out of conviction".