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 postponed by mutual agreement.
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, and security and peace in Europe, the Vatican said in a statement.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Associated Press
an hour ago
- Associated Press
House passes bill to to combat fentanyl trafficking, sending it to Trump's desk
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House overwhelmingly passed bipartisan legislation Thursday that would solidify federal policies cracking down on the synthetic opioid fentanyl and its analogs in a bid by lawmakers to combat the nation's opioid epidemic. The HALT Fentanyl Act makes permanent a 2018 emergency rule that classifies knockoffs of fentanyl as Schedule I controlled substances, which results in harsher sentences for possession of the drug. The bill passed the House 321-104 and now heads to President Donald Trump for his signature. The legislation, which applies to what are known as known as 'fentanyl-related substances,' garnered support from nearly every Republican and many Democrats despite concerns that the bill does not address the root issues at hand and will add to problems in the criminal justice system. Senate Majority Leader John Thune hailed passage of the bill and promised more legislative action to come. 'I don't need to tell anybody about the horrible impact of drug overdoses in this country, many of them caused by fentanyl,' Thune said on the Senate floor. 'In the coming weeks, we'll be taking up legislation to address another aspect of the fight: securing our borders,' a nod to Republicans' tax package, which includes billions of dollars in additional immigration enforcement and border security funding. Proponents of the legislation argue that the bill will make it easier to stop drug traffickers by making the federal emergency rules permanent. Opponents say the framework does little to stem the epidemic and warn it will make it harder to conduct important research. Congress has regularly renewed the emergency rules since 2018, meaning there is no immediate change to federal policy. The bill does not include increased funding for law enforcement to conduct anti-drug trafficking efforts, nor funding for public health efforts meant to reduce fentanyl addiction and deaths. The bill's supporters say that the reclassification will give anti-trafficking efforts clearer standards to operate under as law enforcement combats the trade. Federal, state and local law enforcement have sought to break up the flow of fentanyl into the U.S. by targeting Mexican drug cartels and local gangs. The Trump administration has declared stemming the flow of fentanyl precursors from China a priority in trade talks with Beijing, an effort that follows a spate of initiatives by the Biden administration to reduce the importation of such substances into the U.S. from China and other illegal supply chains. 'A loophole that the cartels have tried to use to drive their illicit fentanyl into our country is by changing one part of the fentanyl chemical structure to create fentanyl analogs,' said GOP Virginia Rep. Morgan Griffith, one of the bill's co-sponsors, during Wednesday's debate on the House floor. 'The cartels did this in an attempt to evade our criminal laws,' said Griffith, who argued that the bill would help prevent further fentanyl deaths and increase the potential for research into the drug and related substances. And lawmakers appealed to the human cost of fentanyl smuggling. 'We must give our law enforcement the tools to combat this problem. This bill does exactly that,' said GOP California Rep. Jay Obernolte, a co-sponsor of the bill. Obernolte recounted the stories of families impacted by fentanyl overdoses in his district and noted that more than 100,000 Americans died of an overdose last year, mostly from fentanyl. The bill 'gives our law enforcement agencies the tools that they need to begin dealing with this problem,' Obernolte said. Democratic New Jersey Rep. Frank Pallone said during debate that he opposed the bill because it uniformly criminalizes fentanyl related substances. Pallone said it will impede potential research into their benefits rather than provide an 'offramp to substances found to have potential medical applications.' Pallone also chided Republicans for saying they aimed to tackle the opioid epidemic while supporting the Trump administration's cuts to federal agencies tasked with research and public health policy. 'This Republican bill would also exacerbate inequities in our criminal justice system because drugs placed on Schedule I include mandatory minimum sentencing,' Pallone said. 'The bill is essentially recycling an incarceration first response to what I consider mainly a public health challenge.' Schedule I drugs are substances considered by the Drug Enforcement Agency to have 'no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.' Possession of a Schedule I drug is considered a felony and can be prosecuted as drug smuggling. Drugs currently classified as Schedule I include heroin, marijuana and methaqualone. Fentanyl itself is classified as a Schedule II drug, which the DEA designates as having 'a high potential for abuse.' Schedule II substances include cocaine, methamphetamine, oxycodone and Adderall.
San Francisco Chronicle
an hour ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
House passes bill to to combat fentanyl trafficking, sending it to Trump's desk
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House overwhelmingly passed bipartisan legislation Thursday that would solidify federal policies cracking down on the synthetic opioid fentanyl and its analogs in a bid by lawmakers to combat the nation's opioid epidemic. The HALT Fentanyl Act makes permanent a 2018 emergency rule that classifies knockoffs of fentanyl as Schedule I controlled substances, which results in harsher sentences for possession of the drug. The bill passed the House 321-104 and now heads to President Donald Trump for his signature. The legislation, which applies to what are known as known as 'fentanyl-related substances,' garnered support from nearly every Republican and many Democrats despite concerns that the bill does not address the root issues at hand and will add to problems in the criminal justice system. Senate Majority Leader John Thune hailed passage of the bill and promised more legislative action to come. 'I don't need to tell anybody about the horrible impact of drug overdoses in this country, many of them caused by fentanyl,' Thune said on the Senate floor. 'In the coming weeks, we'll be taking up legislation to address another aspect of the fight: securing our borders,' a nod to Republicans' tax package, which includes billions of dollars in additional immigration enforcement and border security funding. Proponents of the legislation argue that the bill will make it easier to stop drug traffickers by making the federal emergency rules permanent. Opponents say the framework does little to stem the epidemic and warn it will make it harder to conduct important research. Congress has regularly renewed the emergency rules since 2018, meaning there is no immediate change to federal policy. The bill does not include increased funding for law enforcement to conduct anti-drug trafficking efforts, nor funding for public health efforts meant to reduce fentanyl addiction and deaths. The bill's supporters say that the reclassification will give anti-trafficking efforts clearer standards to operate under as law enforcement combats the trade. Federal, state and local law enforcement have sought to break up the flow of fentanyl into the U.S. by targeting Mexican drug cartels and local gangs. The Trump administration has declared stemming the flow of fentanyl precursors from China a priority in trade talks with Beijing, an effort that follows a spate of initiatives by the Biden administration to reduce the importation of such substances into the U.S. from China and other illegal supply chains. 'A loophole that the cartels have tried to use to drive their illicit fentanyl into our country is by changing one part of the fentanyl chemical structure to create fentanyl analogs,' said GOP Virginia Rep. Morgan Griffith, one of the bill's co-sponsors, during Wednesday's debate on the House floor. 'The cartels did this in an attempt to evade our criminal laws,' said Griffith, who argued that the bill would help prevent further fentanyl deaths and increase the potential for research into the drug and related substances. And lawmakers appealed to the human cost of fentanyl smuggling. 'We must give our law enforcement the tools to combat this problem. This bill does exactly that,' said GOP California Rep. Jay Obernolte, a co-sponsor of the bill. Obernolte recounted the stories of families impacted by fentanyl overdoses in his district and noted that more than 100,000 Americans died of an overdose last year, mostly from fentanyl. The bill 'gives our law enforcement agencies the tools that they need to begin dealing with this problem,' Obernolte said. Democratic New Jersey Rep. Frank Pallone said during debate that he opposed the bill because it uniformly criminalizes fentanyl related substances. Pallone said it will impede potential research into their benefits rather than provide an 'offramp to substances found to have potential medical applications.' Pallone also chided Republicans for saying they aimed to tackle the opioid epidemic while supporting the Trump administration's cuts to federal agencies tasked with research and public health policy. 'This Republican bill would also exacerbate inequities in our criminal justice system because drugs placed on Schedule I include mandatory minimum sentencing,' Pallone said. 'The bill is essentially recycling an incarceration first response to what I consider mainly a public health challenge.' Schedule I drugs are substances considered by the Drug Enforcement Agency to have 'no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.' Possession of a Schedule I drug is considered a felony and can be prosecuted as drug smuggling. Drugs currently classified as Schedule I include heroin, marijuana and methaqualone. Fentanyl itself is classified as a Schedule II drug, which the DEA designates as having 'a high potential for abuse.' Schedule II substances include cocaine, methamphetamine, oxycodone and Adderall.
San Francisco Chronicle
a day ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
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 became a conservative darling for his criticisms of COVID-19 vaccines, a leading critic of pandemic-era lockdowns, and a professor of operations management. Kennedy's decision to 'retire' the previous 17-member Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices 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. On Tuesday, before he announced his picks, Kennedy said: 'We're going to bring great people onto the ACIP panel – not anti-vaxxers – bringing people on who are credentialed scientists.' The new appointees include Vicky Pebsworth, a regional director for the National Association of Catholic Nurses, who has been listed as a board member and volunteer director for the National Vaccine Information Center, a group that is widely considered to be a leading source of vaccine misinformation. Another is 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 prominence 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 and has 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 vaccines that have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration should be used. The CDC's final recommendations are widely heeded by doctors and guide vaccination programs. The other appointees are: —Dr. James Hibbeln, who formerly headed a National Institutes of Health group focused on nutritional neurosciences and who studies how nutrition affects the brain, including the potential benefits of seafood consumption during pregnancy. —Retsef Levi, a professor of operations management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. —Dr. James Pagano, an emergency medicine physician from Los Angeles. —Dr. Michael Ross, a Virginia-based obstetrician and gynecologist. Of the eight named by Kennedy, perhaps the most experienced in vaccine policy is Meissner, an expert in pediatric infectious diseases at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, who has previously served as a member of both ACIP and the Food and Drug Administration's vaccine advisory panel. During his five-year term as an FDA adviser, the committee was repeatedly asked to review and vote on the safety and effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines that were rapidly developed to fight the pandemic. In September 2021, he joined the majority of panelists who voted against a plan from the Biden administration to offer an extra vaccine dose to all American adults. The panel instead recommended that the extra shot should be limited to seniors and those at higher risk of the disease. Ultimately, the FDA disregarded the panel's recommendation and OK'd an extra vaccine dose for all adults. In addition to serving on government panels, Meissner has helped author policy statements and vaccinations schedules for the American Academy of Pediatrics. ACIP members typically serve in staggered four-year terms, although several appointments were delayed during the Biden administration before positions were filled last year. The voting members all have scientific or clinical expertise in immunization, except for one 'consumer representative' who can bring perspective on community and social facets of vaccine programs. Kennedy, a leading voice in the anti-vaccine movement before becoming the U.S. government's top health official, has accused the committee of being too closely aligned with vaccine manufacturers and of rubber-stamping vaccines. ACIP policies require members to state past collaborations with vaccine companies and to recuse themselves from votes in which they had a conflict of interest, but Kennedy has dismissed those safeguards as weak. Most of the people who best understand vaccines are those who have researched them, which usually requires some degree of collaboration with the companies that develop and sell them, said Jason Schwartz, a Yale University health policy researcher. 'If you are to exclude any reputable, respected vaccine expert who has ever engaged even in a limited way with the vaccine industry, you're likely to have a very small pool of folks to draw from,' Schwartz said. The U.S. Senate confirmed Kennedy in February after he promised he would not change the vaccination schedule. But less than a week later, he vowed to investigate childhood vaccines that prevent measles, polio and other dangerous diseases. Kennedy has ignored some of the recommendations ACIP voted for in April, including the endorsement of a new combination shot that protects against five strains of meningococcal bacteria and the expansion of vaccinations against RSV. In late May, Kennedy disregarded the committee and announced the government would change the recommendation for children and pregnant women to get COVID-19 shots. On Monday, Kennedy ousted all 17 members of the ACIP, saying he would appoint a new group before the next scheduled meeting in late June. The agenda for that meeting has not yet been posted, but a recent federal notice said votes are expected on vaccinations against flu, COVID-19, HPV, RSV and meningococcal bacteria. A HHS spokesman did not respond to a question about whether there would be only eight ACIP members, or whether more will be named later. ___ 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.
