Thousands pray for the critically ill pope of Francis on the cool, rain Square of St. Peter

Vatican city – Thousands of people gathered at St. Peter Square on Monday night to pray for sick Pope FrancisExpressing sadness for his suffering, hope for his recovery and gratitude for his efforts to manage the Catholic Church in new directions.

88-year-old Francis has pneumonia and remains in a critical condition even though he has shown a slight improvement after 11 days in the hospital.

As a Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican number 2, he ran prayers 45 minutes cool, rainy night, a faithful finger of the Rosary in the crown, hoping for Francis’s recovery. The Vatican has previously issued an optimism in the evening, delivering more exciting health newsletters than in recent days.

However, the mood was mostly gloomy on the monumental square, with many of the approximately 4,000 assembled understanding that they may be in Francis in the last days. The crowds were sitting under umbrellas on folding chairs or stood by huge colonnades as they loved the inheritance of Pontiph with love.

“To see him suffering pain,” said Robert Pietro, a Romanian seminar standing in prayer, holding a small, fragrant candle in today’s honor. “But we also pray in gratitude for what he did for the church.”

Roberto Allison, a priest from the Mexican State of Guadalajara, said that members of his community gathered to show gratitude for “everything we learned from him.”

Stopping to deliver personal blessings at the end of the ceremony at the end of the ceremony, Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco said that the diversity of the audience – many world languages ​​could be heard – “a great sign of consolation” for the Catholic Church.

The Argentine pope, which was removed part of a lung, was hospitalized at the Gemelli Rome Hospital of February 14, and doctors said his condition was touch and movement, with respect to his age, fragility and existing lung diseases.

But in update on Monday they said he no longer had respiratory crises From Saturday and extra oxygen that uses the extension, but with slightly reduced oxygen flow and concentrations.

Several Catholic tourists from Chicago, who arrived holding the umbrellas even before the service began, said they prayed for the Pope at the Daily Mass in the Basilica of St. Peter and decided to return. Like many, they thought it was “difficult to process” that they were in Rome for Francis’s last days.

“Nobody knows day and time, but it’s still a historic moment,” Edward Burjek said.

The same was felt for Hatzumi Villanuev from Peru. She especially loved the former Pope of St. John Paul II, but, Francis said, as the first Latin American pope, “she draws a little closer.”

“We came to pray for the pope, to recover soon, for the great mission he shares with his message of peace,” said Villanueva, who praised his empathy for migrants.

Francis’s papacy also emphasized the defense the environment and partially openness to LGBTQ+ RIGHT.

Outside the Vatican, the Romans, the pilgrims, and even the non -Catholic, they said they were offering special prayers for a hospitalized pope.

“We are all sorry,” said Raniero Mancinelli, who adjusted ceremonial clothing for Francisco and two previous Pope at his store just in front of the Vatican walls.

Elisabetta Zumbo wore a 5 -meter -long cross -country cross that brought to St. Peter as she was preparing to run a group of 34 pilgrims from the northern Italian city of Piacenza. When the rain collapsed, she promised that her group would be intensely prayed for the pope.

“There’s a lot of emotions and a lot of sadness,” Zumbbo said.

Nearby, a couple from London who visited St. Peter and his son said that, although they were not Catholics, they felt close to Pontiph “there in his house” in a monumental basilica.