(25 Feb 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Rome, Italy – 25 February 2025
1. SOUNDBITE (English) Trisha Thomas, The Associated Press:
“We received a minimalist bulletin from the Vatican this morning, saying the pope slept well all night. This can be interpreted as he didn’t have any respiratory crisis. The 88-year-old Pope Francis is battling pneumonia in both of his lungs. He is receiving oxygen through a tube in his nose. He is continuing his therapy, the doctors say. A report last night said that he has made “slight improvement” but is still in critical condition. It also said that he made a call to the parish in Gaza, the Catholic parish in Gaza yesterday, something he has been doing for months and apparently wants to continue. And the Vatican’s noon bulletin today reported that yesterday the pope met with the Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin and signed a decree for the causes of the saints and beatifications. Now while the pope is struggling and battling this pneumonia in the hospital, people are gathering from all over the world to pray for him. Last night in St Peter’s Square, Cardinal Pietro Parolin held a prayer service with all the cardinals and with hundreds of faithful from all over the world. And here at the hospital, people have been gathering for special masses and rosaries and just individual prayers. We have spoken to people from Vietnam, and Kenya and India, the United States and Canada, all of them praying for his speedy recovery.”
2. Various of candles and messages for Pope Francis around the base of the Statue of John Paul II
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Vatican City – 24 February 2025
++NIGHT SHOTS++
3. Various of Saint Peter’s Square with faithful attending Rosary Prayer
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Rome, Italy – 25 February 2025
4. Group of young men holding up sign reading (Italian): “Now more than ever we need you Pope Francis.”
5. Woman holding yellow mimosa flowers as she prays in front of statue
6. Flowers and statue
STORYLINE:
The Vatican said early on Tuesday that Pope Francis slept well all night.
The 88-year-old Francis has pneumonia in both lungs and remains in critical condition despite showing a slight improvement after 11 days in the hospital.
He was well enough to meet with the Vatican secretary of state to approve new decrees for saints and call a formal meeting to set the dates for their canonization, the Vatican also announced.
In the most upbeat bulletin in days, the Vatican said Francis had resumed work from his hospital room, calling a parish in Gaza City that he has kept in touch with since the war there began.
The Argentine pope, who had part of one lung removed as a young man, has been hospitalized since Feb. 14 at Rome’s Gemelli hospital and doctors have said his condition is touch-and-go, given his age, fragility and pre-existing lung disease before the pneumonia set in.
Thousands of people have gathered in St. Peter’s Square to pray for the ailing pope, expressing sorrow for his suffering, hope for his recovery and gratitude for his efforts to steer the Catholic Church in new directions.
Standing on Monday night on the same stage where Francis usually presides, the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, said that ever since Francis had been hospitalized, a chorus of prayers for his recovery had swelled up from around the world.
The vigil was to continue Tuesday night, presided over by another senior Vatican official, Cardinal Antonio Tagle of the Philippines, who heads the office responsible for the Catholic Church in the developing world.
Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/
You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/4137076846e645088ebaec253363c347
Author: AP Archive
Go to Source
News post in March 2, 2025, 3:04 pm.
Visit Our Sponsor’s:
News Post In – News
