First spoken words from Pope Francis since illness air in St. Peter’s Square. (Anthony Faiola and Stefano Pitrelli, Washington Post, March 6, 2025)

Pray for the Pope's speedy recovery, I was Jesuit-educated, at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.  I was inspired by the election of our first Jsuit Pope on June 13, 2013.  Sadly, St. Augustine's then-Mayor JOSEPH LESTER BOLES, JR. delayed for a year inviting Pope Francis to St. Augustne for our 450th anniversary. I called our City Manager the night the Pope was elected, shortly after 5 PM, stating "Dude, we're getting the Pope." Then St. Augustine City Finance Director Mark L, Litzinger and others discussed logistics. There would have been. a Papal Mass here in delectation or our 450th. Party of the legacy of rebarbative reprobate BOLES.  Bless his heart.  From The Washington Post:

First spoken words from Pope Francis since illness air in St. Peter’s Square

The recorded message was the first released by the Vatican since Pope Francis was hospitalized with a respiratory illness on Feb. 14.

Updated 

March 6, 2025 at 3:46 p.m. ESTtoday at 3:46 p.m. EST

3 min

St. Peter's Square at the Vatican on Thursday. (Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP/Getty Images)

By Anthony Faiola

 and 

Stefano Pitrelli

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis’s gravelly, frail voice echoed through St. Peter’s Square on Thursday, as a recorded message from the ailing pontiff delivered his first spoken words to 1.4 billion Catholics since his admission to a Rome hospital nearly three weeks ago.

“I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your prayers for my health from the Square. I accompany you from here,” Francis, speaking in his native Spanish, said in the message. “May God bless you and the Virgin protect you. Thank you.”

Pope Francis broadcasts audio message of thanks

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A recorded message from Pope Francis offering thanks for prayers for his health was broadcast in St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City on March 6. (Video: Vatican Media)

The Vatican said the message was recorded from the pope’s hospital suite earlier Thursday. It was broadcast ahead of the start of the 11th night that people — including Catholic pilgrims in Rome for jubilee year celebrations — have gathered in St. Peter’s Square to pray the rosary for Francis.

The pope’s words were halting, as if he was gasping for breath, and were the product of a man who has spent recent days and nights battling the worse health crisis of his papacy. The 88-year-old pontiff, who had part of one lung removed in his youth, has been diagnosed with double pneumonia. He has at times been on “noninvasive mechanical ventilation” — an exterior mask that covers the mouth and nose and is one step short of a breathing tube.

As the audio recording was introduced, then broadcast, a crowd of thousands applauded.

The message came after medical reports concerning Francis’s condition have been more positive over the past several days.

At the start of the week, Francis suffered two episodes of acute respiratory failure, the Vatican had said. Significant buildup of mucus within his bronchi had caused a bronchospasm, or a tightening of the airways of the lungs. The setbacks had caused Francis to return to mechanical ventilation — though he has recently alternated that with less intense high-flow oxygen during the day.

No new episodes have been recorded since Monday, the Vatican said, adding Thursday that the pope, in addition to respiratory therapy, had also begun physical therapy. The Vatican said it felt confident enough about the “stability of the clinical picture” to forgo until Saturday what have been twice-daily medical updates.

The pope has remained sequestered in his Rome hospital suite, and the Vatican has declined to share photos of Francis. That hasn’t stopped fake images from circulating or conspiracy theories spreading across social media, with some posts claiming that the pope might even be dead.

Some Vatican officials have pushed back, saying it is inappropriate to share images of an ill elderly man, much less the pope. A 1996 decree by Pope John Paul II also specifically forbade the photographing or filming of the “Supreme Pontiff either on his sickbed or after death.” Francis, however, has the authority to allow such a photo to be taken.

An AI-generated image of Francis in a puffer jacket several years ago made him among the first targets of deepfakes.

Since Frances was admitted to Rome’s Agostino Gemelli Polyclinic hospital on Feb. 14, Vatican watchers have anticipated that he might make an appearance at a window to deliver his regular Angelus prayer on Sundays, as he did during a less serious hospitalization in 2021. Instead, Francis has delivered written prayers to the faithful, though Vatican officials have not ruled out that he may make an appearance at some point.

His current hospitalization is the fourth, and the longest of his papacy.

By Anthony Faiola

Anthony Faiola is Rome Bureau Chief for The Washington Post. Since joining the paper in 1994, he has served as bureau chief in Miami, Berlin, London, Tokyo, Buenos Aires and New York and additionally worked as roving correspondent at large. follow on X@Anthony_Faiola

By Stefano Pitrelli

Stefano Pitrelli is a reporter in the Rome bureau for The Washington Post.follow on X@StefanoPitrelli