The pope has increased his physical activity and celebrated the start of Lent, Vatican says

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Catholic Church opened the solemn Lenten season leading to Easter on Wednesday without the participation of Pope Francis, who is in the third week of hospital treatment for double pneumonia.

A cardinal took the pope’s place leading a short penitential procession between two churches on the Aventine Hill, and opened an Ash Wednesday homily prepared for the pontiff with words of solidarity and thanks for Francis.

“We feel deeply united with him in this moment,” Cardinal Angelo De Donatis said. ”And we thank him for the offering of his prayer and his suffering for the good of the entire church in all the world.”

Health update

The Vatican said the pope rested well overnight and woke after a second night sleeping with a ventilation mask. Francis remained in stable condition, with a guarded prognosis, meaning he was not out of danger.

The 88-year-old pope, who has chronic lung disease and had part of one lung removed as a young man, had two respiratory crises on Monday in a setback to recovery.

On Tuesday, he was breathing with just supplemental oxygen but resumed using a ventilation mask at night, the Vatican said. Doctors often use noninvasive ventilation to stave off intubation or the use of more invasive mechanical ventilation.

Francis has not been intubated during this hospitalization, which began on Feb. 14 and is the longest of his 12-year papacy.

Francis is not physically active, uses a wheelchair and is overweight. He had been undergoing respiratory physiotherapy to try to improve lung function. Accumulation of secretions in his lungs was a sign that he doesn’t have the muscle tone to cough vigorously enough to expel the fluid.

Ash Wednesday

Lent begins with Ash Wednesday and leads up to Easter on April 20. A cardinal has been designated to take Francis’ place at Vatican celebrations.

On Ash Wednesday, observant Catholics receive a sign of the cross in ashes on their foreheads, a gesture that underscores human mortality. It is an obligatory day of fasting and abstinence for Catholics that signals the start of Christianity’s most penitent season.

“The condition of fragility reminds us of the tragedy of death,″ De Donatis said in his homily. ”In many ways, we try to banish death from our societies, so dependent on appearances, and even remove it from our language. Death, however, imposes itself as a reality with which we have to reckon, a sign of the precariousness and brevity of our lives.”

The pope was supposed to attend a spiritual retreat this weekend with the rest of the Holy See hierarchy. On Tuesday, the Vatican said the retreat would go ahead without Francis but in “spiritual communion” with him. The theme, selected before Francis got sick, was “Hope in eternal life.”

Prayers of support

Yuris Asis, visiting from Colombia, said he prayed for the pope “because his current condition, which is serious. All of the Catholic community around the world is praying for him.”

Italian Emanuele Di Martino said the pope was utmost in his mind as he experienced the pilgrimage to the Vatican.

“We hope that the pope’s health issues can be resolved because unfortunately the condition is not the best, but we hope and we trust that he will get well, if possible,” Di Martino said.

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Associated Press writer Colleen Barry and visual journalist Trisha Thomas contributed to this report.

Nicole Winfield, The Associated Press

by Canadian Press

The pope has increased his physical activity and celebrated the start of Lent, Vatican says

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