- The Italian daily Corriere della Sera published a letter from Francis to the editor, signed and dated March 14 from Rome's Gemelli Hospital.
ROME: Pope Francis said in a letter published Tuesday that his long illness had helped him see “more clearly” the absurdity of war, while his top deputy rejected any suggestion that he resign and Buckingham Palace announced plans for an upcoming audience with Britain's King Charles III.
The Italian daily Corriere della Sera published a letter from Francis to the editor, signed and dated March 14 from Rome's Gemelli Hospital, where the 88-year-old pontiff has been undergoing treatment for a complex lung infection and double pneumonia since February 14.
In it, Francis reiterated his call for diplomacy and international organisations to gain “new vitality and authority”. He also said his own illness had helped him clarify certain things, including “the absurdity of war”.
“Human fragility can make us more aware of what lasts and what passes, what gives life and what kills,” he wrote.
Responding to a letter from the newspaper's editor-in-chief, Luciano Fontana, Francis also called on him and all media representatives to “feel the full importance of words.”
“They are never mere words: they are facts that shape the human environment. They can unite or divide, serve the truth or use it for other purposes,” he wrote. “We must disarm words, disarm minds, and disarm the earth.”
The letter was published after Francis noted slight improvements in his treatment and the Vatican's second-most senior cardinal, Pietro Parolin, dismissed any suggestion that the pope might resign.
“Absolutely not,” Parolin told reporters Monday when asked if he and the pope had discussed the resignation. Parolin visited Francis twice during his hospitalization, most recently on March 2, and said he found Francis better than he had on his first visit on Feb. 25.
Francis also received a standing ovation from members of the Italian Senate on Tuesday after Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni sent him greetings and said “not only this chamber but the entire Italian people” wish the pope a full recovery “as soon as possible.”
Meloni, who was the first outsider to visit the pope after his hospitalization, said that “even in difficult times, his strength and leadership were felt.”
Francis went without high-flow oxygen for a second day and used only regular supplemental oxygen through a nasal tube, the Holy See said Tuesday. He also went without using a non-invasive ventilator mask at night for the first time in weeks to force his lungs to work harder.
While these are “minor improvements,” the Vatican has not yet given any timeline for his possible release. However, Buckingham Palace announced on Monday that King Charles III is due to meet Francis at the Vatican on April 8 if he returns and is well enough.
Such state visits are always closely organized with Parolin's office. But the Vatican press office declined to confirm the visit on Tuesday, noting that the Holy See only confirms papal audiences shortly before they take place.
The developments came after the Vatican released some details about the first photo of Francis released since his hospitalization. The image, taken from behind on Sunday, showed Francis sitting in a wheelchair in his private chapel, praying with no sign of his nasal tubes.
The photo, which shows Francis wearing a purple stole, follows an audio message the pope recorded on March 6 in which he thanked people for their prayers in a quiet, intense voice.
Together, they suggested that Francis exerts extreme control over how the public watches his illness, to prevent it from becoming a spectacle. While many in the Vatican saw John Paul II’s long and public struggle with Parkinson’s and other ailments as a modest sign of his willingness to show his weaknesses, others criticized it as overdone and glorifying illness.
The image certainly reassured some well-wishers who came to Gemelli to pray for Francis, who is recovering in the papal apartments on the 10th floor reserved for popes.
“After a month of hospitalization, a photograph has finally emerged that can assure us that his health has improved,” said the Pescara priest, the Rev. Enrico Antonio.
However, Benedetta Flagello from Naples, who was visiting her sister in Gemelli, wondered whether the photograph was genuine.
“Because if the Pope can sit for a minute without a mask, without anything, why didn't he look out the window on the 10th floor so everyone could see him?” she asked. “If you remember our old Pope (John Paul II), he couldn't speak, but he showed up.”
