We prayed for Pope Francis at Mass yesterday. I’ve added a prayer to my daily routine. It sounds like there’ll be more prayers in St. Peter’s Square this evening.
Our pope’s health is emphatically not good. But as the old Minnesota saying goes: “it could be worse”.
- “Pope rests in his 10th day of hospitalization but remains in critical condition”
NPR News (February 24, 2025) - Vatican News
- “‘Slight improvement’ in Pope’s condition”
(February 24, 2024) - “Pope had good tenth night in hospital”
(February 24, 2024) - “Cardinal Parolin to lead Rosary for Pope’s health in St. Peters Square”
(February 24, 2024) - “Outpouring of good wishes and prayers for Pope Francis”
(February 22, 2024)
- “‘Slight improvement’ in Pope’s condition”
In this case, part of the good news is that Pope Francis hasn’t had a repeat of Saturday morning’s “respiratory crisis”, his kidney issues are still not his major health problem, and “…the thrombocytopenia remains stable…”. (Vatican News (February 24, 2024))
I looked up thrombocytopenia. It’s a five-dollar word meaning that there’s well below the usual number of platelets in his blood. Platelets are tiny bits in our blood whose job is forming clots, clots help plug leaks, so that our body can heal itself. And that’s almost another topic.
Before I get going, here’s that prayer I’ve added to my daily routine:
- Prayer for Pope Francis
USCCB (United States Conference of Catholic Bishops)
Feelings, Popes, and Perspectives
I’m glad that Pope Francis is getting medial treatment. But sooner or later, someone else will be our 267th pope. I think I’ve got the count right.
The point is, we’ve had a great many popes since St. Peter got the job.
I don’t know what’s ahead, but my guess is that we’ll have a great many more before this creation’s wrapped up. And that’s yet another topic: a whole mess of topics.
I’m not happy about our pope being sick. But my feelings are more tied up with Pope Francis, and much less concerned with the Church. We’ve been doing what we do for two millennia, and this is by far not the most apparently-serious situation we’ve experienced.
I was going somewhere with this.
Let’s see: prayer, Pope Francis, health, popes and the Church. Right.
“…Waiting for God…” — Death by Faith Healing?
My reading habits may account for the number of health- and religion-related items in my news feed. Although the Google News algorithm probably has access to my age. That could account for the geriatric slant.
Anyway, this headline showed up last Saturday:
- “Charges: Woman left mother’s dead body in home waiting for God to ‘resurrect’ her”
Bring Me The News (February 22, 2025)
It’s been quite a while since I’ve run across ‘death by faith healing’ news, and this instance may not get traction. I rather hope it doesn’t.
I also don’t envy the folks who will be dealing with the legal, jurisdictional, and social aspects of this mess.
Seems that a 55-year-old woman had been taking care of her 77-year-old mother. Then, about two months ago, the mother died. And, apparently, the daughter left her mother’s body where they’d lived.
“…she had not reported the death because she was waiting for God to ‘resurrect’ her mother.
“She also said she had not been giving her mother her medications, including for diabetes and high blood pressure, because she wanted to treat her ‘naturally.’…
“…An autopsy later found that while a cause and manner of death were undetermined, contributing factors included hypertension, hypothyroidism and dementia. Blood tests did not show that the mother had taken prescription medications….”
(“Charges: Woman left mother’s dead body in home waiting for God to ‘resurrect’ her” Bring Me The News (February 22, 2025)) [emphasis mine]
The daughter’s ex-husband had been living in the basement: I really don’t envy folks who will be dealing with this mess. No pressure, but prayers for all involved couldn’t hurt.
Being Healthy, Being Sick, Making Sense
It’s been maybe a year since I talked about why I don’t see a problem with both taking my prescriptions and praying.
Again, it’s been quite a while — decades — since I noticed enough ‘death by faith healing’ news items to think of them as a category. I see that as a ‘no news is good news’ situation.
But I’d be surprised if the notion that ‘being religious’ involves ignoring common sense has gone completely off the radar.
So I’ll recap what I’ve said before. Being healthy and being sick are part of life. Illness happens. Using our brains makes sense:
“…Prayer is good idea. So is getting and staying healthy. Within reason. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1506-1510, 2288-2289, 2292)
“Some Saints were sickly, but that’s not what makes them Saints. Being healthy or being sick is okay. It’s how we act that matters. (Catechism, 828, 1509, 2211, 2288-2291, 2292-2296, 2448)…”
(“Editing Genes, Ethically” > Being Healthy: Within Reason (August 18, 2017)
Using painkillers is okay, too; within reason.
I’ve talked about this sort of thing before:
- “Pope Francis: Somewhat-Good News”
(February 21, 2025) - “Cancer Followup Scan: Good News”
(August 20, 2024) - “Another Trip to the Emergency Room”
(May 15, 2021) - “Editing Genes, Ethically”
(August 18, 2017) - “Miscarriage, Stillbirth, and Hope”
(October 9, 2016)
To be honest, I don’t think I’ve paid much attention to who the Pope is and what he is up to until Pope Francis started his time as Pope. I did grow up knowing the names of Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI, though, but their works didn’t really sink into me much back then.
As for idiocy done in the name of faith, I further realize that it’s a universal trouble. That, and I’m thinking twice again about approaching things like how Odysseus managed to listen to the Sirens with convenience, especially as one whose work is mainly in the arts, media, and entertainment. So far, I’m feeling a reminder about having faith in how God works through even the worst of us fools without enabling our sinfulness.
Pope John Paul II – now Pope Saint John Paul II – him, I’m not surprised that you heard of as you were growing up. He was remarkable in several ways, even before being recognized as a Saint. So was the 20th century for the Church, and for the world – several topics that – – – well, enough of that: apart from my opinion that, centuries from now, folks will look back on that era as a sort of golden age. It didn’t feel like one at the time – enough for now.
And yes: “…universal trouble…” – – – humanity has a number of those. Happily, we also have help, when we’ve got the sense to ask.
God working through each of us? Yeah – scary thought, but YES.
Anything’s a golden age if you got enough nostalgia, don’t you think? Such terming feels more relative than absolute, as far as I’m understanding. And heaven? Well, that blows golden ages out of the water because it’s perfection!
Yeah, there is universal goodness too. Glad to see the faith of humanity getting close to God as He wishes even when our fellow fools don’t know it.
And I guess it can be scary to think of God working through us, especially with how easier it is for us to see and practice sinfulness. But you know what’s also scary? God deciding to risk getting the worst humiliation He can get here on earth. And I don’t think I’d understand the concept of perfection also being brave enough to not only be humiliated but also keep on being perfect if I never bothered to have faith in it. And I just understood that today. It’s that difficult, alright.