Cardinal Koch: 'Suffering of illness' a great challenge for aging Pope Francis
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Hundreds of people gather to pray the rosary for Pope Francis' health on Thursday, March 6, 2025, in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNAVatican City, Mar 12, 2025 / 13:20 pm (CNA).Cardinal Kurt Koch, prefect of the Vatican's Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, reflected Tuesday on the great challenge of illness and suffering for Pope Francis as he approaches a month's hospital stay amid a series of health crises.Before leading Tuesday evening's recitation of rosary, held inside the Vatican's Paul VI Audience Hall, Koch drew parallels in the lives of Pope Francis and St. Peter."Truly, truly, I say to you when you were young, you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go," Koch said, citing Jn 21:18. Commenting on the Gospel account when the resurrected Jesus asked Peter, the first pope, to follow him until ...
Hundreds of people gather to pray the rosary for Pope Francis' health on Thursday, March 6, 2025, in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA
Vatican City, Mar 12, 2025 / 13:20 pm (CNA).
Cardinal Kurt Koch, prefect of the Vatican's Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, reflected Tuesday on the great challenge of illness and suffering for Pope Francis as he approaches a month's hospital stay amid a series of health crises.
Before leading Tuesday evening's recitation of rosary, held inside the Vatican's Paul VI Audience Hall, Koch drew parallels in the lives of Pope Francis and St. Peter.
"Truly, truly, I say to you when you were young, you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go," Koch said, citing Jn 21:18.
Commenting on the Gospel account when the resurrected Jesus asked Peter, the first pope, to follow him until the end, Koch asked: "How can we not recognize in these words, [is] in fact, what our Holy Father — the successor of Peter — is also experiencing and struggling with?"
"Of course the situations are different, but also the suffering of a serious illness is a great challenge," he said, before starting Tuesday's contemplation of the Rosary's sorrowful mysteries.
Since Feb. 24, a cardinal has presided over the daily recitation of the Rosary for the pope's health. Hundreds of local Catholic faithful and jubilee pilgrims from around the world have come to St. Peter's Square to join the evening prayers open to the public.
"We ask for the intercession of Mary, the mother of hope, for the health of Pope Francis," Koch prayed.
The 88-year-old pontiff has undergone various medical therapies to treat bronchitis, bilateral pneumonia, as well as mild kidney problems, since being admitted to Rome's Gemelli Hospital almost one month ago on Feb. 14.
Over the weeks, several Catholic faithful from Rome and abroad have also gathered outside Gemelli Hospital to pray for the Holy Father and have left behind written notes with well wishes, candles, and flowers before the St. John Paul II statue outside the facility.
Wednesday evening's Rosary at the Vatican was held at 6 p.m. local time and led by Cardinal ??George Jacob Koovakad, prefect of the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue.
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The J. Edgar Hoover FBI headquarters building in Washington, D.C. / Credit: Tony Webster, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia CommonsWashington, D.C. Newsroom, Sep 17, 2025 / 19:34 pm (CNA).FBI Director Kash Patel said in a U.S. Senate hearing that there have been "terminations" and "resignations" of employees related to a 2023 anti-Catholic memo produced by Richmond, Virginia's field office and the agency has made policy adjustments.Patel made the comments during a Sept. 16 line of questioning from Republican Sen. Josh Hawley, who requested an update on the administration's investigation into the memo and asked about the FBI's efforts to combat anti-Catholic and anti-Christian violence and hate crimes.He did not specify how many people were terminated or what their roles were in drafting the memo."We are doing our investigation simultaneously with Congress," Patel said. "Just to put it in perspective, we provided 700 documents on the Richmond Catholic memo, specifically to this committee...
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View of the San Diego skyline. / Credit: russellstreet, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia CommonsCNA Staff, Sep 17, 2025 / 13:19 pm (CNA).A deacon in San Diego told parishioners last week that he will voluntarily deport himself after his residency status was revoked by the U.S. government.The deacon reportedly made the announcement at St. Jude Shrine of the West during Masses on Sept. 14. Local media reported that the clergyman came to the U.S. when he was 13 and "served the St. Jude community for roughly four decades." He will reportedly be returning to Tijuana, Mexico.Local reports did not identify the deacon. A diocesan representative indicated to CNA that the news reports were accurate, but the diocese said it could not identify the deacon himself and that he was handling the matter privately.Representatives at St. Jude Parish did not respond to queries regarding the announcement.The deacon's self-deportation comes amid a wave of heightened immigration enforcement around the coun...
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Nigeria is "sinking in many fronts," the president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Nigeria, Archbishop Lucius Iwejuru Ugorji, has said. / Credit: Catholic Secretariat of NigeriaACI Africa, Sep 17, 2025 / 14:10 pm (CNA).Nigeria is "sinking in many fronts," the president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) said at a recent meeting, lamenting that in addition to economic hardships Nigerians are grappling with, many communities have been thrown into perpetual mourning due to unending insecurity.In his address at the ongoing interactive session between CBCN and the "prominent lay faithful" of Calabar ecclesiastical province, Archbishop Lucius Iwejuru Ugorji said many Nigerians have been killed, and those who fled are languishing in camps where they are exposed to extreme weather conditions, often without food and water.Acknowledging "notable progress here and there" in the country where persecution against Christians is said to be the highest globally, the a...
