Francis was elected on March 13, 2013 as the 266th pontiff — and the Catholic Church’s first Latin American pope.
ROME, Italy — Pope Francis marked the 12th anniversary of his pontificate Thursday in the hospital — the first pope to do so in modern church history — as he received increasingly positive medical news on his recovery, a cake and hundreds of messages wishing him well.
The pope spent the morning in physiotherapy, followed Lenten spiritual exercises of the Roman curia and stopped to pray at the chapel in the Gemelli Hospital, where he has been under treatment for a complex lung infection since Feb. 14, Vatican sources said.
In the afternoon, he received a cake from hospital personnel.
A chest X-ray has confirmed improvements in his condition, the Vatican said on Wednesday, just two days after doctors declared he’s no longer in imminent danger of death.
The latest medical bulletin said that the 88-year-old pope’s condition remained stable but indicated a complex picture considering his overall fragility, which includes his age, limited mobility often requiring a wheelchair and the removal of part of a lung as a young man. No medical updates were issued on his anniversary.
Francis was elected on March 13, 2013 as the 266th pontiff — and the Catholic Church’s first Latin American pope.
The pope’s anniversary is a public holiday at the Vatican, but no special commemorations were held. A Mass was held in his honor later at the Argentine church in Rome, with several dozen worshippers in attendance.
“It was a different church before (him),” said Lia Pratico.
Pope Francis marks 12 years in position in the hospital
