Pope Francis will skip the second consecutive weekly Angelus prayer as he begins the second week in the hospital.
According to CNN, the Vatican has said that the pope will not attend the weekly Angelus prayer on Sunday, February 23, 2025, due to hospitalisation after a pneumonia diagnosis.
The Vatican press office asserted that the pope who is admitted in the Agostino Gemelli Polyclinic in Rome “slept well” overnight into Saturday. However, it is still unclear how long he will stay in the hospital for the medical treatment.
Sergio Alfieri, a surgeon who has previously operated on the pope, told reporters on Friday, February 21, 2025, that the 88-year-old has no risk of “immediate death.
He said, “Is the pope out of danger? No. Both doors are open. Is he at risk of immediate death? No. The therapy needs time to work,” estimating that he will remain hospitalised for “at least all of next week.”
The Vatican earlier updated that the pope is “positively” responding to the pneumonia treatment.
Notably, this is Francis's third-longest stay in the hospital since he was elected on March 13, 2013, while it will be the third time in his almost 12 years of papacy that he will miss weekly prayers.
