The Vatican announced Friday that Pope Francis will lead the Angelus prayer on Sunday from the Rome hospital where he is recovering from colon surgery.
“The Angelus will be recited from the 10th floor of the A. Gemelli University Hospital,” said spokesperson Matteo Bruni, adding that Francis’ condition was improving after his operation last Sunday.
Bruni stated in his daily update that the pope continues to “eat regularly” and has “resumed his work” barely five days after the planned surgery for a colon irritation.
He also goes for walks in the hospital corridor and reads, according to the 84-year-old.
The Argentine pontiff was anticipated to be in hospital for about seven days, according to the Vatican.
Francis is staying in the same suite on the Gemelli hospital’s 10th floor as Pope John Paul II, who led the Angelus prayer from there in 1992 before waving to the faithful gathering outside.
The late Pope had surgery at the hospital several times, notably after an assassination attempt in 1981 and for a colon tumor in 1992.
After the little city state in the heart of Rome and the papal summer home at Castel Gandolfo, outside the city, he dubbed the apartment overlooking the Gemelli entrance “Vatican 3.”
It was unclear if Francis would lead the Angelus from his hospital window or from within the room, as is customary. The Angelus is traditionally delivered from a window overlooking St Peter’s Square in Vatican City.
The pontiff, whose temperature had returned to normal following a minor fever on Wednesday, celebrated mass in the suite chapel on Thursday, which was attended by all those caring for him in the hospital, according to Bruni.
Francis said earlier this week that the many messages of support he was receiving after his procedure for “severe diverticular stenosis with symptoms of sclerosing diverticulitis” had “touched” him.
Diverticula are tiny pockets or bulges that form in the intestine’s lining. When they become inflamed or infected, diverticulitis develops.
The term “sclerosis” refers to the hardening of tissue.
Bambino Gesu, a Vatican-owned children’s hospital, tweeted get-well cards for Francis designed by children under its care.
One, by Giulia, shows her clutching the pope’s hand as he rests in his hospital bed, imploring him to “hear my prayer, as I heard yours when I was sick.”
