VATICAN (SE): “Aware of how precious communal prayer is, we ask all parish and religious communities to spend an hour in silent adoration [for Pope Francis],” Baldassare Cardinal Reina, the vicar general of the Diocese of Rome, said in a statement expressing the Italian Bishops’ solidarity with Pope Francis and encouraging everyone to pray for him, Vatican News reported on February 24.
“As one large family, we ask the Lord to grant our bishop [Pope Francis, bishop of Rome] the strength needed to face this delicate moment,” Cardinal Reina said.
Following this invitation to communal prayer, the community of the Gemelli University Hospital and the Roman branch of the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart expressed “even stronger support and solidarity with His Holiness Pope Francis during this time of trial and suffering” through various moments of prayer.
Vatican News reported that starting Monday, February 24, and for the entirety of Pope Francis’ recovery in the Gemelli Hospital, an hour of Eucharistic Adoration is scheduled every day from noon until 1.00pm at the hospital’s the St. John Paul II Chapel, followed by Mass.
During the Mass and Adoration, special prayers will be offered for Pope Francis. Later, at 4.30pm, Rome time, the Rosary will be recited in front of the statue of St. John Paul II in the square outside the hospital, and Mass will follow at 5.00pm in the hospital hall.
People all over the world are invited to participate—both physically and spiritually, Vatican News reported. For those who wish to join from outside of Rome, they can recite the following prayer:
“Lord Jesus, Redeemer of the world, who took upon yourself our pain and carried our suffering in your passion, hear the prayer we offer for our sick brother: grant him trust and revive his hope, that he may be lifted up in body and spirit.”
