• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Catholic Review

Catholic Review

Inspiring the Archdiocese of Baltimore

Menu
  • Home
  • News
        • Local News
        • World News
        • Vatican News
        • Obituaries
        • Featured Video
        • En Español
        • Sports News
        • Official Clergy Assignments
        • Schools News
  • Commentary
        • Contributors
          • Question Corner
          • George Weigel
          • Elizabeth Scalia
          • Michael R. Heinlein
          • Effie Caldarola
          • Guest Commentary
        • CR Columnists
          • Archbishop William E. Lori
          • Rita Buettner
          • Christopher Gunty
          • George Matysek Jr.
          • Mark Viviano
          • Father Joseph Breighner
          • Father Collin Poston
          • Robyn Barberry
          • Hanael Bianchi
          • Amen Columns
  • Entertainment
        • Events
        • Movie & Television Reviews
        • Arts & Culture
        • Books
        • Recipes
  • About Us
        • Contact Us
        • Our History
        • Meet Our Staff
        • Photos to own
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • CR Media platforms
        • Electronic Edition
  • Advertising
  • Shop
        • Purchase Photos
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • Magazine Subscriptions
        • Archdiocesan Directory
  • CR Radio
        • CR Radio
        • Protagonistas de Fe
  • News Tips
  • Subscribe
Speakers at the "Vatican Longevity Summit" pose for a photo after speaking to reporters in the Vatican press office March 24, 2025. From the left are: Legionaries of Christ Father Alberto Carrara, the summit organizer; Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2009; Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, president of the Pontifical Academy for Life; and Dr. Giulio Maira, a neurosurgeon and researcher. (CNS photo/Cindy Wooden)

Pope’s return from hospital coincides with Vatican conference on aging

March 24, 2025
By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service
Filed Under: News, Seniors, Vatican, World News

Share
Share on Facebook
Share
Share this
Pin
Pin this
Share
Share on LinkedIn

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Even though its focus was mainly scientific, a Vatican-sponsored conference on aging and longevity could not ignore the ongoing convalescence of 88-year-old Pope Francis.

The pope returned to the Vatican March 23 after more than five weeks in Rome’s Gemelli hospital, but his doctors have prescribed two months of a drastically reduced schedule to allow him to recuperate.

For Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, president of the Pontifical Academy for Life and co-sponsor of the “Vatican Longevity Summit,” questions about Pope Francis’ ability to fulfill his ministry far from the public eye is one of the key points of the conference.

The “gigantic contradiction” in Western societies, he told reporters March 24, is that people see a higher average life span as a sign of progress while also either ignoring the elderly or considering them a burden unless they are clearly making something, doing something or saying something.

“Pope Francis has shown us that old age is fragile, and that fragility must not be denied,” the archbishop said. “In my opinion, the pope has offered us an extraordinary magisterium in these days, not with his words, but with this body,” teaching people “that we are all fragile and we must care for one another.”

Dr. Giulio Maira, a neurosurgeon and researcher focused on degenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s, was asked to comment on Pope Francis’ condition.

While he insisted he never followed the pope as a physician, but only as a Catholic, it was clear the pope had been close to death with his breathing crises and his infections.

“Obviously, he is weak physically,” the doctor said, and he should obey his doctors’ orders to rest, continue his therapy and avoid meeting large groups of people so that he does not get another infection.

“However,” he told reporters, “I want to point out something that really struck me yesterday: the sensitivity and lucidity of the pope,” specifically when Pope Francis barely audibly thanked some 1,000 people gathered outside Rome’s Gemelli hospital and then pointed to “the woman with the yellow flowers,” Carmela Mancuso, who is in her late 70s.

“With a thousand people under his window, he thanked a person who brought flowers. The number of people there did not matter, what mattered was a gesture of care,” he said. “In other words, his sensitivity, his intelligence, his ability to analyze is still intact.”

Asked what advice he would give the pope, the doctor replied: “First, he must follow his doctors’ orders precisely,” perhaps holding meetings online when he is feeling better rather than meeting people in person because his health is “certainly very fragile.”

“The second point is that the pope has an illness in his body, not his mind, so he must continue to use his mind,” the doctor said. He should find something interesting and challenging to read “to keep his brain active.”

Read More Vatican News

jubilee 2025

World will hear young people’s joy, shouting for peace on earth, pope says

RUSSIAN-ORTHODOX-meeting

Pope Leo meets with top Russian Orthodox cleric amid war, strained relations

Pope welcomes young people to Rome for jubilee, thanks media for promoting truth

Parishes need to launch ‘revolution of care’ for the elderly, pope says

Body of Blessed Frassati, relic of Blessed Acutis will be in Rome for Jubilee

Pope celebrates Apollo 11 anniversary with peek at the heavens, call to astronaut

Copyright © 2025 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops

Print Print

Share
Share on Facebook
Share
Share this
Pin
Pin this
Share
Share on LinkedIn

Primary Sidebar

Cindy Wooden

Click here to view all posts from this author

For the latest news delivered twice a week via email or text message, sign up to receive our free enewsletter.

| MOST POPULAR |

  • Detroit archbishop fires theologians Ralph Martin, Eduardo Echeverría from seminary

  • Warsaw archbishop ‘devastated, crushed’ by priest’s arrest in brutal murder of homeless man

  • Archdiocese of Baltimore offers resources for parishes to assist migrants

  • Conference of Major Superiors of Men Men’s religious leaders confront change with fraternity and faith

  • Third annual gun buyback scheduled for Aug. 9

| Latest Local News |

Conference of Major Superiors of Men

Men’s religious leaders confront change with fraternity and faith

Sister Rose Sylvia Lindner, S.S.N.D., dies at 91

Radio Interview: The true story of ‘Xavier Rynne’

Archdiocese of Baltimore offers resources for parishes to assist migrants

Third annual gun buyback scheduled for Aug. 9

| Latest World News |

Pilgrimage of Peace

US prelates head to Japan on ‘Pilgrimage of Peace’ amid nuclear fears old and new

jubilee 2025

World will hear young people’s joy, shouting for peace on earth, pope says

Catholic leaders ICE

Report on alleged conditions at ICE’s Florida detention sites prompts Catholic leaders’ call for change

RUSSIAN-ORTHODOX-meeting

Pope Leo meets with top Russian Orthodox cleric amid war, strained relations

new york city shooting

‘Never get used to violence,’ says NY cardinal after mass shooting in building near St. Patrick’s

| Catholic Review Radio |

CatholicReview · Catholic Review Radio

Footer

Our Vision

Real Life. Real Faith. 

Catholic Review Media communicates the Gospel and its impact on people’s lives in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and beyond.

Our Mission

Catholic Review Media provides intergenerational communications that inform, teach, inspire and engage Catholics and all of good will in the mission of Christ through diverse forms of media.

Contact

Catholic Review
320 Cathedral Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
443-524-3150
mail@CatholicReview.org

 

Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Recent

  • Movie Review: ‘Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight’
  • New law will help families access America’s Catholic schools
  • Home viewing roundup: What’s available to stream and what’s on horizon
  • How to grow in faith for back-to-school
  • US prelates head to Japan on ‘Pilgrimage of Peace’ amid nuclear fears old and new
  • World will hear young people’s joy, shouting for peace on earth, pope says
  • Report on alleged conditions at ICE’s Florida detention sites prompts Catholic leaders’ call for change
  • Pope Leo meets with top Russian Orthodox cleric amid war, strained relations
  • ‘Never get used to violence,’ says NY cardinal after mass shooting in building near St. Patrick’s

Search

Membership

Catholic Media Assocation

Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association

The Associated Church Press

© 2025 CATHOLIC REVIEW MEDIA, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

en Englishes Spanish
en en