VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Home from the hospital after more than five weeks, Pope Francis is showing "slight improvements" in his breathing, ability to speak and mobility, the Vatican press office said.

The 88-year-old pope, released from Rome's Gemelli hospital March 23, is following doctors' orders and is focused on his recovery, the press office told reporters March 28.

His days are devoted to prayer, breathing exercises, physical therapy, rest and handling paperwork sent from Vatican offices to his residence, the Domus Sanctae Marthae.

Each morning, he concelebrates Mass in the small chapel down the hall from his bedroom and private office, the press office said. 

Pope Francis has not received any visitors, it said. He spends each day with members of his medical team -- one of whom is on duty 24 hours a day -- and with his private secretaries.

The pope was praying March 28 for victims of a massive earthquake that caused death and destruction in Myanmar and Thailand, the press office said.

In a telegram sent to civil and church authorities in the two countries, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, said the pope was "deeply saddened by the loss of life and widespread devastation."

"Pope Francis offers heartfelt prayers for the souls of the deceased and the assurance of his spiritual closeness to all affected by this tragedy," the message said. The pope also prayed that emergency workers would be given "the divine gifts of fortitude and perseverance."

The pope was hospitalized Feb. 14-March 23 after a case of bronchitis worsened, making it difficult for him to breathe. He was diagnosed with multiple infections and then with double pneumonia, resulting in several life-threatening breathing crises.

The Vatican press office said that since the pope was released from the hospital, he has had a reduced need for supplemental oxygen and is using high-flow oxygen through a nasal cannula during only part of the night.

The results of blood tests performed March 26 were within the normal range, the press office said. Before they discharged the pope, his doctors said he would continue drug therapy at home to deal with mycosis, a fungal infection, and the press office said he was continuing that medication.

Pope Francis watched the livestream March 28 of the Lenten meditation for cardinals and senior members of the Roman Curia offered by Capuchin Father Roberto Pasolini, preacher of the papal household. 

While the Vatican published a schedule of major Holy Week and Easter liturgies March 27, the press office said it was too soon to know if the pope would be in attendance.

Polish President Andrzej Duda visited the Vatican March 28 and met with Cardinal Parolin. Among the gifts the Polish president brought was a rosary for Pope Francis.

Duda and his wife also were at the Vatican March 27, making a pilgrimage to the Holy Door of St. Peter's Basilica for the Jubilee Year and praying at the tomb of St. John Paul II.

The Vatican press office announced March 28 that Cardinal Parolin would preside at a memorial Mass in St. Peter's Basilica April 2, the 20th anniversary of the death of the Polish pope.
 

With one headline describing him as “a Moses of the 20th century,” L’Osservatore Romano devoted two pages of its March 27 edition to Father Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881-1955), the French Jesuit philosopher and paleontologist whose views on race and eugenics have come under increased scrutiny over the past decade.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- As Pope Francis continues his convalescence, the Vatican published a full calendar of Holy Week and Easter liturgies with no indication of who would preside or be the main celebrant.

The list of Masses and other liturgies, released by the master of papal liturgical ceremonies March 27, said only that the services would be celebrated by the "Pontifical Chapel," which includes the pope, the cardinals residing in Rome and top Vatican officials.

Asked about Pope Francis' role in the celebrations, the Vatican press office responded that "it will be necessary to see the improvements in the pope's health in the coming weeks to assess his possible presence, and on what terms, at the rites of Holy Week."

The 88-year-old pope was released from Rome's Gemelli hospital March 23 after a 38-day stay for breathing troubles, infections and double pneumonia. His doctors recommended two months of rest. 

The list of liturgies published goes from the celebration of Palm Sunday April 13 through the celebration of Divine Mercy Sunday April 27 with the canonization of Blessed Carlo Acutis as part of the Jubilee of Teenagers.

A Vatican source said that while it is hoped Pope Francis would be present to proclaim Acutis a saint, all that is necessary is that he sign a decree of canonization; he can delegate someone else to preside over the rite. Acutis, an Italian, died of leukemia in 2006 at the age of 15.

Missing from the Vatican schedule is the Holy Thursday Mass of the Lord's Supper and foot washing ritual. Since becoming pope in 2013, Pope Francis has celebrated the Mass at a prison, hospital or detention facility and the location always has been announced separately from the public papal Holy Week schedule. 

Even though Pope Francis has celebrated the Mass elsewhere, the parish of the Basilica of St. Peter at the Vatican has its own evening Mass of the Lord's Supper.

Pope Francis' long-term struggle with bronchitis and breathing problems had led to changes in previous Holy Week liturgies. Last year, he skipped reading his homily on Palm Sunday, opting for a moment of silence instead.

In both 2023 and 2024, illness also led him to skip the nighttime Way of the Cross service at Rome's Colosseum.

The following is the schedule of liturgies published by the Vatican:

-- April 13, 10 a.m. Palm Sunday Mass in St. Peter's Square.

-- April 17, 9:30 a.m., chrism Mass in St. Peter's Basilica.

-- April 18, 5 p.m., Liturgy of the Lord's Passion in St. Peter's Basilica.

-- April 18, 9:15 p.m., Way of the Cross at Rome's Colosseum.

-- April 19, 7:30 p.m. Easter vigil Mass in St. Peter's Basilica.

-- April 20, 10:30 a.m., Easter morning Mass in St. Peter's Square.

-- April 27, 10:30 a.m., Mass for Divine Mercy Sunday and the canonization of Blessed Carlo Acutis in St. Peter's Square. 

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Jesus seeks out people in their woundedness and isolation to offer healing and hope, even when they feel furthest from God, Pope Francis said in a prepared catechesis.

"Jesus awaits us and lets himself be found precisely when we think there is no longer hope for us," the pope wrote in the text prepared for his general audience March 26.

Although Pope Francis returned to his residence at the Vatican March 23 after more than five weeks in the hospital, his general audience and other appointments were suspended to allow time for his recovery.

Jubilee pilgrims, even knowing Pope Francis was not holding an audience, continued to make their way to the Vatican and to the Holy Door at St. Peter's Basilica.

As part of his catechetical series for the Holy Year 2025, themed "Jesus Christ, our hope," the pope reflected on Jesus' encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well as recounted in St. John's Gospel. The catechesis follows a previous reflection on the nighttime meeting between Jesus and Nicodemus.

Unlike Nicodemus, who went looking for Jesus, the Samaritan woman encountered him unexpectedly. She went to the well at an unusual hour -- noon, when it was very hot -- perhaps to avoid others. "She did not expect to find a man at the well at noon; in fact, she hoped to find no one at all," the text said. Yet Jesus chose to pass through Samaria and stop at that very place and time, waiting for her.

"Jesus here thirsts above all for the salvation of that woman," the catechesis said, explaining that Jesus' request -- "Give me a drink" -- reveals a divine desire to begin a relationship and offer the "living water" of grace.

Quoting St. Augustine, the pope wrote, "The one who asked for a drink was thirsting for the faith of the woman."

Jesus' knowledge of her difficult past of having had five husbands and now living with a sixth man is not a source of judgment, the pope's message said, but a starting point for healing. The woman is invited to read her story in a new light.

The number six, the catechesis noted, often symbolizes imperfection in the Bible. Jesus could be "an allusion to the seventh bridegroom, the one who will finally be able to satiate this woman's desire to be truly loved," it said. "And that bridegroom can only be Jesus."

Upon realizing who he is, the woman leaves behind her water jar -- a symbol, the pope wrote, of her past burdens -- and runs to tell others.

"Her past is no longer a weight," the catechesis said. "She is reconciled. And so it is for us: To proclaim the Gospel, we must first lay the weight of our own story at the feet of the Lord, surrendering to him the weight of our past."

True evangelization flows from the experience of being understood, welcomed and forgiven, the pope wrote. 

"Even if our stories seem heavy, complicated, perhaps even ruined, we always have the chance to surrender them to God and begin our journey again," the catechesis said. "God is mercy and always awaits us."