Pope calls parish in Gaza, his condition remains stable

Pope chats with Gaza parish - on 22 January - (before his illness) Screenshot

Source: Vatican Media

Pope Francis called the Catholic parish in Gaza today and carried out several other tasks, as his condition remained stable, with no new respiratory episodes.

The Holy See Press Office this evening, said: "The Holy Father remained stable today as well, without any episodes of respiratory insufficiency.

"As planned, he utilized supplemental, high-flow oxygenation, and non-invasive mechanical ventilation will be resumed tonight.

"The Holy Father increased his respiratory and active motor physiotherapy. He spent the day in his armchair.

"Given the complexity of the clinical situation, the prognosis remains guarded.

"This morning, in the private apartment located on the 10th floor, the Holy Father participated in the rite of the blessing of the Sacred Ashes, which were imposed on him by the celebrant. He then received the Eucharist.

"Afterwards, he engaged in several work activities. During the morning, he also called Father Gabriel Romanelli, the parish priest of the Holy Family Church in Gaza. In the afternoon, he alternated between rest and work."

Cardinal Angelo De Donatis read Pope Francis homily at the Ash Wednesday Mass which was held in the Basilica of Santa Sabina.

Speaking off the cuff before delivering the homily, Cardinal De Donatis invited those present to listen to Pope Francis' words and said, "We feel deeply united with him in this moment, and we thank him for the offering of his prayer and his sufferings for the good of the entire Church and the whole world."

The Pope began by focusing on the ways that the imposition of ashes reminds us of deeper realities about ourselves.

"We bow our heads in order to receive the ashes", he said, "as if to look at ourselves, to look within ourselves. Indeed, the ashes help to remind us that our lives are fragile and insignificant: we are dust, from dust we were created, and to dust we shall return."

This fragility takes many forms, the Pope said: weariness, weaknesses, fears, failures, failed dreams, illness, poverty, suffering, and, of course, mortality.

Although we sometimes try to flee these realities, Pope Francis said, the imposition of ashes "reminds us of who we are".

This is good for us, he stressed - it helps prevent narcissism, and brings us back to reality, making us "more humble and available to one another".

While ashes remind us of our fragility, however, Pope Francis said, they also remind us of our reasons for optimism.

"The ashes remind us of the hope to which we are called in Jesus, the Son of God, who has taken upon himself the dust of the earth and raised it to the heights of heaven."

Such hope is important, Pope Francis said, because, without it, we risk "passively enduring the fragility of our human condition" and, in the face of our own mortality, "sinking into sadness and desolation".

Pope Francis brought his homily to a close with an exhortation to "return to God with all our hearts".

"Let us place Him at the centre of our lives," the Pope said, "so that the memory of what we are - fragile and mortal as ashes scattered upon the wind - may finally be filled with the hope of the Risen Lord."