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The Pope recovers from bronchitis and will preside over the Holy Week ceremonies in the Vatican

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After leaving the Gemelli Polyclinic this Saturday morning where he was treated in three days of a infectious bronchitis, Pope Francis said he felt completely healed. He announced that he will preside over Palm Sunday which will gather a crowd in the Plaza de San Pedro, which celebrates the entry of Jesus Christ into Jerusalem in the last days of his earthly life and marks the beginning of Holy Week.

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The central moment will be the Mass which will be celebrated, in the presence of the Pope, by 79-year-old Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, also from Argentina.

Francis said all of his audiences for the next two days are confirmed, as well as the Wednesday general audience in St. Peter’s Square.

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In addition to the rites of Holy Thursday, Francisco he will go to prison to wash the feet of twelve prisonersin remembrance of Jesus’ gesture of humility with the apostles.

He will also be present on Friday at the pilgrimage of the stations of martyrdom which is celebrated at night in the Colosseum in Rome. Meteorologists predict a drop in temperatures from this weekend and taking into account that the Pope follows the seasons from a hill in front of the Colosseum, it will take measures so that it does not suffer from the cold and the wind it blows every night in the place.

The pontiff will also preside over the celebrations of Holy Saturday and on Easter Sunday he will be present in St. Peter’s Square, at the mass which will be celebrated by the dean of the College of Cardinals, Giovanni Battista Re.

The Pope signed the cast of a fractured boy this Saturday as he left the Gemelli hospital in Rome.  Photo: ANSA

The Pope signed the cast of a fractured boy this Saturday as he left the Gemelli hospital in Rome. Photo: ANSA

Cardinal Re said the Argentine pontiff will read the paschal message and from the balcony of the Basilica he will send the Urbi et Orbi blessing to the city of Rome and to the world.

trip to Hungary

Dad he also confirmed his trip to Hungary later this month preside over the closing of an International Eucharistic Congress.

“I’m still alive,” Jorge Bergoglio joked, smiling at the beginning of this Saturday, as he left the Gemelli hospital in Rome. Francisco had the small car (a white Fiat 500) in which she traveled stationary, and came down with the help of a stick even the people in line who cheer him on.

He greeted the group and spoke to a boy who had a broken arm who signed the cast.

A young couple was crying desperately and the mother hugged Francisco and told him that her six-year-old daughter had died at dawn at the polyclinic. The Pope kissed her cheeks and so did her father sobbing beside her. Bergoglio invited them to pray together and the three of them prayed for the little girl.

The Pope comforts a woman who said she lost her little daughter.  Photo: AP

The Pope comforts a woman who said she lost her little daughter. Photo: AP

Many people greeted and experienced the Bishop of Rome during the journey, in a large convoy of police cars and motorcycles. Before entering the Vatican, Francis had the procession diverted to the Pontifical Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, where he went to thank the Virgin Mary for his protection of her. “I also entrusted the little ones in the sector of children who suffer from oncological diseases to Gemelli to Maria,” he said later.

Ceremony in San Pedro Square

Arriving at the entrance to the Vatican, the Pope stopped the car again and got out with the Easter eggs which he handed out, one by one with a handshake, to the motorbike police escorts.

Francis will preside over Palm Sunday in St. Peter’s Square. As is tradition, people will bring olive branches, palm leaves and other trees which will be blessed by the pontiff and then decorate their homes during Easter.

Pope Francis, this Saturday, after leaving the hospital where he had been hospitalized for three days.  Photo: ANSA

Pope Francis, this Saturday, after leaving the hospital where he had been hospitalized for three days. Photo: ANSA

The central moment of the celebration that effectively opens Holy Week will be the mass celebrated by Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, in the presence of the Pope, who will preside over the ceremony seated. For almost a year now, osteoarthritis in his right knee has prevented Jorge Bergoglio from walking, going up and down the stairs, making it impossible for him to move around the altar.

Sandri is Vice Dean of the College of Cardinals and Prefect Emeritus of the Department of Oriental Churches. He was a diplomat of the Holy See for years.

In 2005, when he was undersecretary of state, the Polish Karol Wojtyla, terminally ill with Parkinson’s, was assigned to assist Pope Saint John Paul II.

Sandri read the speeches and public messages of the pontiff who reigned for 26 and a half years, alongside Wojtila who was unable to speak. He became very popular and was called by the people “the voice of the Pope”.

The Argentine cardinal announced the death of St. John Paul II at dusk on April 2, 2005 in front of the crowd gathered in prayer in St. Peter’s Square.

B. C

Source: Clarin

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