(8 Mar 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Rome, Italy – 8 March 2025
1. Mid of Misericordie (Italian association providing health and social care) volunteers praying at Gemelli Hospital
2. Candles with Pope Francis’ face on under John Paul II statue
3. Close of jumper with logo of 2025 Jubilee and Misericordie
4. Woman praying in front of John Paul II statue together with volunteers
5. Various of volunteers praying
6. SOUNDBITE (Italian) Don Franco Agostinelli, Bishop of Prato and religious assistant of Misericordie volunteers:
"So today we celebrate the Volunteers Jubilee, of course we would have liked to celebrate it with Pope Francis, but we know that Pope Francis is close to all those people who spend their life, their resources, their disposability, their time to help the others. So we are here to celebrate, despite this absence for us which is a little bit painful, to celebrate the Jubilee of the volunteers and we are here also to tell this to Pope Francis. We said that with our presence, with our prayer, a small number from Misericordie. Tomorrow we will be many more, but we will be at St Peter’s Square to celebrate the eucharist.”
7. Close of a faithful’s hand holding rosary
8. Mid of volunteers praying
9. SOUNDBITE (Italian) Antonio Flammia, volunteer:
"We came here to Gemelli (hospital) to do a Rosary and to do a prayer for Pope Francis. Tomorrow morning there will be an gathering at St Peter’s Square with all the Misericordie. Around 5,000 volunteers are expected. We will follow the Mass at St. Peter’s Square and we will also pray for the Pope.”
10. Various of volunteers praying in front of John Paul II statue
11. SOUNDBITE (Italian) Cristina Cataudella, volunteer:
”Pope Francis for me…. I came here and my hope was to see him, but I’m sure that all our emotion, this prayer (will help him) where he is now. I believe in God and I think he will be with us soon.”
12. Mid of John Paul II statue
13. Volunteers clapping and looking at window where Francis is being treated
14. Wide of volunteers praying at Gemelli Hospital
STORYLINE:
Dozens of faithful gathered on Saturday by the statue of John Paul II at Gemelli hospital in Rome to pray for Pope Francis’ health.
Among those were volunteers from Misericordie, an Italian association providing health and social care to those in need, who held prayers as they marked the Volunteers Jubilee.
"Today we celebrate the Volunteers Jubilee, of course we would have liked to celebrate it with Pope Francis, but we know that Pope Francis is close to all those people who spend their life, their resources, their disposability, their time to help the others," said Don Franco Agostinelli, Bishop of Prato and religious assistant of Misericordie volunteers.
"So we are here to celebrate, despite this absence for us which is a little bit painful, to celebrate the Jubilee of the volunteers and we are here also to tell this to Pope Francis."
Francis has entered his fourth week in the hospital with double pneumonia, increasingly handing off his day-to-day duties to cardinals as questions swirl about the near and long-term future of his papacy.
On Saturday, the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, took Francis’ place to celebrate Mass for a pro-life group.
On Sunday, another Vatican official, Cardinal Michael Czerny, is stepping in for the pope to celebrate a Holy Year Mass for volunteers.
The 88-year-old pope has spoken about the possibility of resignation, though his position has changed over time, especially after the death of Pope Benedict XVI.
AP video shot by: Isaia Montelione
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