For the first time in three weeks, the world heard the voice of a hospitalized Pope Francis on Thursday evening, when an audio recording was played over loudspeakers ahead of the rosary that the faithful have been praying each day in St. Peter’s Square.
“I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your prayers for my health from the square,” Francis said. “I accompany you from here. May God bless you and the Virgin protect you. Thank you.”
The pope spoke slowly in Spanish, his native tongue. But however labored and weak the church leader sounded, his voice set off an eruption of applause among the thousands of faithful in the square.
The Vatican said the message had been recorded earlier that day at the Policlinico Agostino Gemelli, the hospital in Rome where Francis, 88, was admitted on Feb. 14 with bronchitis that developed into pneumonia in both lungs, along with other infections.
The Vatican has not released any images of Francis, citing respect for his privacy.
During his hospital stay, the pope has had two respiratory crises, most recently on Monday, when a significant accumulation of mucus in his bronchial tubes as a consequence of pneumonia required the suctioning of his airways. Since then, he has been given noninvasive mechanical ventilation during the night and high oxygen flows during the day, along with other treatment.
On Thursday, the Vatican said that Francis remained stable and that he did not have a fever. It said the next medical bulletin would be issued on Saturday afternoon. Doctors cautioned that Francis’ condition remained complex and that the prognosis was still guarded.
For 11 days now, a rosary for the pope’s health has been recited in St. Peter’s Square at 9 each evening. Prayer services and special Masses have been held throughout the world, and even among Francis’ fellow Argentines in Rome, as the world remains gripped with uncertainty over the pope’s fragile health.
“I hope the Lord gives him the strength to hold on,” Anna Urru, a grandmother, said duringher third visit to St. Peter’s Square to pray the rosary for the pope. “I think with our prayer, we give him a great help. I hope the Lord will give him back to us in good health.”
Andrea Vincenzi, who is from Reggio Emilia in northern Italy, came to the square with his wife and son to recite the rosary. Hearing the pope’s voice, he said, “was very moving.”
“I am hopeful he will get better,” Mr. Vincenzi said.
