Let’s “continue to pray for him”: Cardinal in South Africa Appeals for Spiritual Solidarity with Ailing Pope Francis

In the video recording, he goes on to acknowledge with appreciation the medical team and caregivers of the Holy Father as he battles what the Cardinal describes as “a very serious form of pneumonia” that he says “was life threatening.”

“We give thanks to God for doctors and nurses, and we give thanks to all those in healing professions, who worked so hard and in such a dedicated way to bring people back to health,” Cardinal Brislin says.

The Local Ordinary of Johannesburg Archdiocese, who started his Episcopate in January 2007 as Bishop of South Africa’s Kroonstad Catholic Diocese also thanks “all those throughout the world that have been praying for the recovery of the Holy Father.”

In the same country, Bishop Thulani Victor Mbuyisa of the Catholic Diocese of Kokstad has also welcomed Pope Francis’ return to the Vatican.

“We thank God that the time has come for Pope Francis to return home from the hospital,” the South African member of the Congregation of Mariannhill Missionaries (CMM) says in response to an interview published on YouTube on March 24, and adds, “We hope his health will continue to improve so that he may continue with the ministry God has entrusted to him, that is, to lead the Church.”

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Shortly before returning to his Vatican at Casa Santa Marta on March 23, Pope Francis made a brief appearance from a fifth-floor balcony of the Gemelli Hospital to a crowd of faithful gathered outside the Rome-based health facility.

The moment marked his first public engagement in over five weeks. Waving and giving a “thumps-up” before imparting blessing upon those, who gathered outside Gemelli Hospital, the Holy Father briefly thanked one well-wisher for bringing flowers for the occasion.

According to the Vatican, after being discharged from hospital, before returning to Casa Santa Marta, Pope Francis went to the Basilica Santa Maria Maggiore and delivered flowers to place before the icon of the Virgin Salus Populi Romani.

Meanwhile, in a text he prepared for March 23 Angelus, Pope Francis reflects, “In this long period of my hospitalization, I have had the opportunity to experience the Lord’s patience, which I also see reflected in the tireless care of the doctors and healthcare workers, as well as in the care and hopes of the relatives of the sick.”

“This trusting patience, anchored in God’s unfailing love, is indeed necessary in our lives, especially when facing the most difficult and painful situations,” the Holy Father says in his Angelus text in which he also expresses his sadness over “the resumption of heavy Israeli bombing on the Gaza Strip, causing many deaths and injuries.”

Pope Francis appeals “for an immediate halt to the weapons; and for the courage to resume dialogue, so that all hostages may be released and a final ceasefire reached.”