Francis shows “slight improvement.” Angelus text speaks of Lent as a “penitential itinerary” and calls for peace in Ukraine, Palestine, Israel and Syria, prey to new violence. Today the Jubilee of the volunteer world, 30,000 in attendance. In the homily read by Card. Czerny, to volunteers, "Serve your neighbor without serving your neighbor."

Vatican City (AsiaNews) - “The night was quiet, the Pope is resting.” This is the latest update released this morning on the condition of Pope Francis, who has been hospitalized since Feb. 14 at the Gemelli Hospital in Rome.

Yesterday, in the late afternoon, the Press Office's daily update had reported a “slight improvement,” with his clinical condition “remaining stable in the last few days,” following “a good response to therapy.” 

Despite the hospitalization, the text of the Angelus was also broadcast this Sunday. Among the themes touched on by the pontiff were Lent, the “gift of peace,” illness, and volunteerism.

 

“A forty-day penitential itinerary that calls us to conversion of heart and leads us to the joy of Easter," read the text prepared by Pope Francis referring to Lent which began this week with Ash Wednesday. 

“Let us commit ourselves so that it may be a time of purification and spiritual renewal, a path of growth in faith, hope and charity” continues the text of the Angelus broadcast this Sunday.

It included an invocation for peace, “particularly in the tormented Ukraine, Palestine, Israel, Lebanon and Myanmar, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.” 

But one thought of apprehension is for Syria, where violence has flared up again in recent days in Alawite villages on the Syrian coast and on the banks of the Orontes, the country's largest river. At least 745 people - including women and children - were killed, according to the Observatory for Human Rights in Syria. “I hope that it [the violence] will end for good, with full respect for all ethnic and religious components of society, especially civilians.”

Speaking about his hospitalization in Rome, Pope Francis turned his thoughts to those caring for him these days. “I experience the thoughtfulness of service and the tenderness of care, especially on the part of the doctors and health care workers, whom I thank from the bottom of my heart.”

"The time spent within the walls of the Polyclinic is also an opportunity to think of the “many people who in different ways are close to the sick and are for them a sign of the Lord's presence.” A glow of hope in the darkness and agony of illness and widespread loneliness. “We need this, the ‘miracle of tenderness,’ which accompanies those in trial bringing a little light into the night of pain.” 

"I would like to thank all those who are showing me their closeness in prayer: thank you all from the bottom of my heart!” added Pope Francis. 

Indeed, many are the faithful who have been gathering outside the Roman hospital for more than 20 days, praying for the pontiff's health. As also in St. Peter's Square for the evening recitation of the Holy Rosary. “I accompany you from here,” he had said three days ago in an audio recording. 

"I also pray for you. And I unite myself spiritually with those who in the coming days will participate in the Spiritual Exercises of the Roman Curia," he added today, recalling the event that will end on Friday, March 14.

“Volunteerism is prophecy and a sign of hope, because it bears witness to the primacy of gratuitousness, solidarity and service to those most in need.” 

This is also how he  recalled the Jubilee of the world of volunteerism, which is being celebrated this Sunday at the Vatican. 

Thirty thousand volunteers were present in St. Peter's Square at the 10:30 a.m. Mass. Pope Francis entrusted his words for the homily to the voice of Card. Michael Czerny. In them, speaking of the Gospel passage (Lk. 4:1-13) that accompanies the beginning of Lent telling of Jesus being tempted in the desert for forty days, he said, “Let us reflect on the fact that we too are tempted, but we are not alone: Jesus is with us.”

He then spoke of three characteristics of Jesus' temptation: the beginning, the way, and the outcome. In reference to the first, he said, "Jesus' temptation is intentional: the Lord goes into the wilderness not out of bravado, to show how strong he is, but out of his filial availability to the Spirit of the Father, to whose guidance he readily corresponds. Our temptation, on the other hand, is suffered: evil precedes our freedom, corrupting it intimately like an inner shadow and a constant snare." 

On the second, then, he said that a “particular way by which Christ is tempted” is grasped from the passage, namely “in relationship with God, his Father.” "The devil is the one who separates, the divider, while Jesus is the one who unites God and man, the mediator. In his perversion, the devil wants to destroy this bond," he explained. 

On the third characteristic, the outcome, he said, "Jesus, the Christ of God, overcomes evil. He repels the devil, who will nevertheless return to tempt him ‘at the appointed time’ (v. 13). [...] In the desert the tempter is defeated, but Christ's victory is not yet final: it will be so in his Passover of death and resurrection." Finally, addressing those present at the jubilee event, he said.

 "Since, along the way, we need that good will, which the Holy Spirit always sustains, I am happy to greet all the volunteers who are present today [...]. Thank you very much, dear ones, because following the example of Jesus you serve your neighbor without serving your neighbor. [...] In the deserts of poverty and loneliness, so many small gestures of gratuitous service make sprouts of new humanity flourish."