Indian Church prays for Pope Francis

By Jose Kavi

New Delhi, Feb 19, 2025: Catholics in India have joined their counterparts across the world to pray for Pope Francis, who has been undergoing treatment for double pneumonia in a Rome hospital.

Archbishop Andrews Thazhath of Trichur, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India, on February 19 called on the country’s Catholics to pray for the Pope after the Vatican announced that the pontiff’s condition had worsened.

The archbishop said the Pope was diagnosed with a polymicrobial respiratory tract infection.

“Recent tests reveal a complex clinical picture, requiring an extended hospital stay for the 88-year-old Pontiff in Rome,” said a statement issued by the conference.

Archbishop Thazhath, while praying for the Pope’s health and recovery, entrusted him “to the mercy and care of Our Lord. Let us join together in prayer for his strength and healing.”

Earlier, Major Archbishop Raphael Thattil, head of the Syro-Malabar Church, too urged his people to pray for Pope Francis whose health condition caused concern.

“According to the information we have received, the Holy Father’s health condition is worrying. Therefore, I request all Syro-Malabar Catholics to pray for the Pope,” the major archbishop’s February 19 message said.

He urged all churches and institutions under his Church to offer Masses for the Pope and Catholic families to pray for the pontiff during the evening prayers.

A Vatican official on February 19 said the Pope had not been put on a ventilator and was breathing on his own.

The Pope was admitted on February 14 at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital after suffering from bronchitis for a week. Initially reluctant, he agreed to hospitalization after doctors warned he was at risk of death if he remained at the Vatican.

A Vatican statement later confirmed he was undergoing extensive antibiotic treatment for a polymicrobial respiratory infection, compounded by his history of lung complications.

In January, the Pope fell and hurt his right arm and a sling was put as precaution. Due to knee problems and sciatica nerve pain he uses a wheelchair or walking cane.

Pope Francis is the 265th successor of Saint Peter. He is the first Pope from the Society of Jesus, the first from the Americas and the Southern Hemisphere, and the first born or raised outside Europe since the 8th-century papacy of the Syrian Pope Gregory III.

The Pope was born Jorge Mario Bergoglio on December 17, 1936, in Flores, a neighbourhood of Buenos Aires, capital of Argentina. He is the eldest of five children of Mario José Bergoglio and Regina María Sívori.

He was elected the Pope on March 13, 2013, following the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI on February 28 that year. He chose Francis as his papal name in honour of Saint Francis of Assisi.