General audience, Angelus remain suspended despite Pope Francis’ return to Vatican

Pope Francis waves to the gathered faithful from the balcony at Gemelli Hospital in Rome on Sunday, March 23, 2025. / Credit: Vatican Media/Screenshot

Vatican City, Mar 25, 2025 / 16:15 pm (CNA).

The Vatican Press Office reported that Pope Francis’ convalescence at St. Martha’s House, his Vatican residence where he returned after being discharged from the hospital on Sunday, continues “under the terms prescribed by the doctors at the time of his discharge from the Gemelli Hospital.”

Thus for the time being, both the general audience scheduled for this Wednesday and the Angelus on Sunday will remain suspended, and the Vatican will release the text prepared by the pontiff, as it has done during the nearly six weeks he was hospitalized in Gemelli Hospital in Rome.

Furthermore, he is not expected to meet with large groups of faithful until at least the end of May. In fact, the greatest fear of the medical team treating him for double pneumonia is that he could become infected with another virus or bacteria that could compromise his health again.

In this regard, the doctor who coordinated the Gemelli team, Sergio Alfieri, requested “everyone’s help” in a press conference on Saturday afternoon to avoid “visits and meetings” and thus speed his recovery.

At the St. Martha residence, the pontiff has a Vatican medical team available 24/7 in case of any emergency. During the day, the pope also does respiratory and motor physiotherapy exercises and continues his drug therapy.

According to the Holy See Press Office on Tuesday, Pope Francis concelebrated Mass and performed some work-related tasks that did not require much effort.

In this regard, the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, assured that, for the time being, in order to be respectful of this recovery period, they will only take care of the most important matters “that require his decision, also so as not to tire him out too much.”

“I will meet with him when he has gotten situated a bit,” the prelate explained yesterday outside the conference titled “Vatican Longevity Summit: Challenging the Clock of Time.” The doctors have said he should take it easy for a while, he added.

In any case, the Vatican confirmed that this period of convalescence is different from that of hospitalization. In fact, he can receive visitors, but they should be kept to a minimum.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.