Japan News

From hospital, Pope Francis marks 12th anniversary

VATICAN CITY, March 12 (Reuters) – Pope Francis will on Thursday mark the 12th anniversary of his election as leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics, but he will do so from Rome’s Gemelli hospital where he has been treated for double pneumonia for almost a month.

From hospital, Pope Francis marks 12th anniversary | Reuters
The latest bulletins from the Vatican on the 88-year-old pope’s condition have said he is improving and is no longer in immediate danger. They have not said when he will be discharged from hospital.Francis was elected pope by the world’s Roman Catholic cardinals on March 13, 2013. His continued stay in hospital – he was admitted on February 14 – is changing the tenor of how Catholics are celebrating the day.

From hospital, Pope Francis marks 12th anniversary | Reuters
Cardinal Michael Czerny, a senior Vatican official known as close to Francis, called the pope’s anniversary “a reason for gratitude”.
He said: “This year, his illness makes us especially aware (of the anniversary), especially grateful to God, and redoubling our prayers for his full recovery.”Francis, born Jorge Mario Bergoglio in Argentina, is the first pope from the Americas.

Elected pontiff at age 76, he moved quickly to make an impact. Over 12 years, he has reorganized the Vatican’s bureaucracy, written four major teaching documents, made 47 foreign trips to more than 65 countries, and created more than 900 saints.
Overall, Francis is widely seen as trying to open the staid global Church to the modern world.

Among major decisions, he has allowed priests to offer blessings to same-𝑠e𝑥 couples on a case-by-case basis and has appointed women to serve as leaders of Vatican offices for the first time.
He has also held five major Vatican summits of the world’s Catholic bishops to discuss contested issues such as women’s ordination and changing the Church’s 𝑠e𝑥ual teachings.

David Gibson, a U.S. academic who has followed the papacy closely, said Francis “has come to seem like the indispensable pope” for many Catholics.
“Francis has really reset the expectations for what a pope should be: a pastor who welcomes all and judges no one of good will,” said Gibson, director of Fordham University’s Center on Religion and Culture.
However, the pope’s agenda has upset some Catholics, including a few senior cardinals. They have accused him of watering-down the Church’s teachings on issues such as same-𝑠e𝑥 marriage and divorce and remarriage, and of focusing excessively on political issues such as climate change.
Some survivors of Catholic clergy 𝑠e𝑥ual abuse have said he should do more to protect children in the Church.
While Francis created the first papal commission on the issue, survivors’ groups have questioned its effectiveness and have called on the pope to create firmer zero-tolerance policies.

‘WHAT OUR WORLD NEEDS’

Francis is known to work himself to exhaustion and has continued his work from hospital. But as he starts his 13th year as pope, it is unclear if he will be able to keep up his normal pace once he is discharged from hospital.
Doctors not involved in his care said he is likely to face a long, fraught road to recovery, given his age and other medical conditions, which have severely limited his mobility.
His prolonged public absence has stoked speculation that he could choose to follow his predecessor Benedict XVI and resign the papacy. But his friends and biographers have insisted he has no plans to step down.
Much of the pope’s schedule for 2025 centres around the Catholic Holy Year, which has filled his calendar with audiences with groups of pilgrims coming to Rome. The Church expects 32 million pilgrims during the year.
Francis has also been planning at least one foreign trip. He wants to travel to Turkey for the celebration of the 1,700th anniversary of a major Christian council of bishops in ancient Nicaea, now the modern day town of Iznik.
Vatican officials expect he will push to make the trip, even if it must be postponed beyond May, when it was planned.
Many Catholics are also hoping Francis will continue speaking out on political issues known as important to him, such as the treatment of immigrants, and on global conflicts.
Just three days before going into hospital, Francis sharply criticized U.S. President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown in an unusual open letter to America’s Catholic bishops.
“Pope Francis has offered the world both vision and leadership,” said Marie Dennis, a Vatican adviser and former leader of an international Catholic organization focused on issues of world peace.
“He is exactly what our broken, violent, confused world needs right now,” she said.

Related Posts

Scientists say they have resurrected the dire wolf

Shown here are two of three wolves genetically edited by scientists to have traits of a dire wolf, a prehistoric animal that went extinct about 12,500 years ago….

衝撃!中居正広の性暴力認定とフジテレビの衝撃的な対応…渡邊渚が命を断とうとしたその瞬間、何が起こったのか?証拠隠蔽の真実が暴かれ、業界が震撼する!

中居正広さんに関する新たな事実が、フジテレビとその親会社フジメディアホールディングスによって設置された第三者委員会の調査報告書から明らかになりました。この報告書は2025年3月31日に公開され、2023年6月2日に発生した中居さんによる性暴力の被害について認定しています。委員会は、性暴力を定義する際、被害者との関係性や状況を問わず、同意のない行為や強制的な行為を含むとしています。 調査の過程で、被害を主張する女性Aさんは全面的にヒアリングに応じる意向を示した一方で、中居さん側は守秘義務を理由にヒアリングに応じず、これが調査の透明性を損ねる要因となりました。報告書は、フジテレビがこの事案をプライベートな問題と捉え、必要な対応を怠ったと厳しく批判しています。 特に、フジテレビの社長である港光一さんの対応が問題視されており、被害者へのメンタルケアや救済の体制が整えられなかったことが指摘されています。さらに、調査報告書には中居さんが女性Aさんに送ったメールのやり取りも含まれており、彼女を食事に誘う過程での権力の不均衡が浮き彫りになっています。 また、タレント有についても言及されており、2021年12月に行われたスイートルームでの会合が問題視されています。フジテレビが支払った高額な宿泊費用が不適切であった可能性も指摘されています。このタレント有の正体については様々な憶測が飛び交っていますが、現在のところ明確な情報はありません。 最後に、報告書はフジテレビのハラスメント体質や人事支配構造についても厳しく指摘し、業界全体の問題として位置づけています。再発防止に向けて、被害者への謝罪やコンプライアンス体制の強化が求められています。この問題は、メディアエンターテインメント業界全体に存在する構造的な課題を浮き彫りにしており、今後の動向が注目されます。

The Wild True Story Behind Good American Family

Warning: This post contains spoilers for Good American Family Good American Family, out on Hulu, is inspired by the dramatic but real story of Natalia Grace, who lives…

Ben Folds announces 2025 tour with solo concerts, symphony collaborations, and fan-requested performances

Photo: Instagram Ben Folds has announced his 2025 tour, which will feature a mix of solo performances, symphony orchestra collaborations, and the return of his interactive Paper Airplane Request…

Taylor Swift earns whopping eight figure sum from Spotify royalties as she becomes the streaming platform’s highest earner over the last year

Taylor Swifts’ music earned over £79.8million last year in royalties from Spotify. The singer, 35, was the streaming platform’s highest earner over the last 12 months – as it…

Doctors declare Pope Francis no longer in ‘imminent danger’

A woman joins Cardinal Michael Czerny, prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, in reciting the rosary for Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Square at the…

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *