“Brothers and sisters, during my prolonged hospitalization here, I too experience the thoughtfulness of service and the tenderness of care, in particular from the doctors and health care workers, whom I thank from the bottom of my heart,” read the message from Gemelli hospital.
“And while I am here, I think of the many people who in various ways are close to the sick, and who are for them a sign of the Lord’s presence. We need this, the ‘miracle of tenderness’ which accompanies those who are in adversity, bringing a little light into the night of pain,” he wrote.
The Argentine pope, who has chronic lung disease and had part of one lung removed as a young man, has remained in stable condition, with no fever and good oxygen levels in his blood for several days, doctors reported in a Vatican statement Saturday.