Vatican

The day after Pope Francis paid a brief visit to Rome’s Gemelli Isola Hospital for “diagnostic tests,” he had a full morning of audiences, including a meeting with bishops from Italy’s Emilia Romagna region making their “ad limina” visits to the Vatican.

Pope Francis paid a brief visit to Rome’s Gemelli Isola Hospital Feb. 28 for “diagnostic tests,” the Vatican press office said, without providing specifics.

Christians who never renounce their love for Christ and are faithful to the point of death are a blessing for everyone, Pope Francis said.

After participating in a seminar on the Catholic Church and the Freemasons, an Italian bishop reaffirmed that Catholics who belong to Masonic lodges are in a “serious state of sin” and cannot receive Communion.

Saying Pope Francis was continuing to experience “mild flu-like symptoms,” the Vatican announced he had canceled his appointments again Feb. 26.

Mexico’s two main presidential candidates have met with Pope Francis in the prelude to the country’s election campaigns, marking a further retreat from the country’s previously strictly secular political culture as they court voters in the predominantly Catholic country.

Cardinal Christoph Schönborn of Vienna warned of schism as German bishops want to keep to their reform course despite the latest letter from Rome, which halted the vote on the statutes of a Synodal Committee.