2023-06-18 13:38:06
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Two days following being released from the hospital, Pope Francis resumed his beloved Sunday custom of greeting the public in St. Peter’s Square, thanking him for the comfort he received following surgery and thanking the crowd shouting “Long live the Pope!”
Before beginning with the prepared remarks, Francis expressed his gratitude for the “affection, attention and friendship” and the “support of prayer” during his hospitalization on June 7 for abdominal surgery at a Rome hospital to repair a hernia and remove increasingly painful scars around your intestines.
“This human and spiritual closeness for me was of great help and consolation,” Francis told some 15,000 people in the square. “Thank you all, thanks to you, thank you from the bottom of my heart.”
The 86-year-old pontiff sounded a bit breathless and hoarse at times, but he frequently waved his hands for emphasis, sometimes improvised his prepared speech, and clearly seemed delighted to be back in his routine.
Although the thousands of Romans, tourists and pilgrims who regularly attend the pope’s weekly noon appearance in a window of the Apostolic Palace usually clap when they see him, this time the applause from the public seemed louder than usual. The three-hour surgery under general anesthesia forced Francis to skip his appearance on Sunday, June 11.
While his spirits seemed elevated as he saw the crowd below, including flag-waving nuns and tourists wearing sun hats on the hot and humid day, Francis turned somber as he noted that Tuesday marks World Refugee Day. , an occasion promoted by the United Nations.
“It is with great sadness and great pain that I think of the victims of the very serious shipwreck that occurred in recent days off the coast of Greece,” Francis said. He was referring to the smugglers’ overcrowded fishing boat, filled with hundreds of migrants, which sank in the Mediterranean Sea last week.
“It seems that the sea was calm,” he said, apparently expressing puzzlement that such a serious tragedy might occur in such conditions.
“I renew my prayer for all those who lost their lives, and I implore that everything possible is always done to avoid similar tragedies,” the pontiff added.
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