The China Mail - Pope marks 12 years in job in hospital - with cake - but future uncertain

The 88-year-old pontiff was for a time critically ill, battling pneumonia in both lungs at Rome's Gemelli hospital, where he was admitted on February 14.

The Argentine cleric's situation has markedly improved since then and he is reported by the Vatican to be stable -- and at least well enough to eat cake.

"He celebrated a little bit with the health workers who have been helping him during this time with a cake and candles," the Vatican press office said late Thursday.

Francis spent the morning following prayers and meditations in the Vatican via videolink, without being seen, alongside his usual treatments and physiotherapy, the Holy See said.

After that, he prayed and continued his breathing exercises, it said.

Other than his cake, no special events were planned for his anniversary, but the Vatican said he was shown hundreds of messages of goodwill sent from schools, religious institutions and young people.

The Vatican press office said it would issue another medical bulletin Friday evening, but might stop sending a daily morning update.

Talk is now turning to when he might go home. But his hospital stay -- the longest and most fraught of his papacy -- has raised doubts about his ability to lead the world's nearly 1.4 billion Catholics.

"It takes time for a body of 88 years old affected by bilateral pneumonia to recover, also in terms of energy, of strength," the press office said.

- Slowing down -

Francis had before now refused to make any concessions to his age or increasingly fragile health, which forced him to begin using a wheelchair three years ago.

He maintained a packed daily schedule interspersed with frequent overseas trips, notably a 12-day tour of the Asia-Pacific region in September, when he presided over huge open-air masses.

But experts say his recovery could take weeks given his age and recurring health issues, not helped by having part of one lung removed as a young man.

"The rest of his pontificate remains a question mark for the moment, including for Francis himself," said Father Michel Kubler, a Vatican expert and former editor in chief of the French religious newspaper La Croix.

"He doesn't know what his life will be like once he returns to the Vatican, and so no doubt reserves the option of resigning if he can no longer cope," he told AFP.

Francis has always left the door open to resigning were his health to deteriorate, following the example of immediate predecessor Benedict XVI, who in 2013 became the first pope since the Middle Ages to voluntarily step down.

But the Jesuit has distanced himself from the idea more recently, insisting the job is for life.

While in hospital, Francis has delegated masses to senior cardinals but has kept working on and off, including signing decrees and receiving close colleagues.

But he has missed a month of events for the 2025 Jubilee, a holy year organised by the pope that is predicted to draw an additional 30 million pilgrims to Rome and the Vatican.

And it is hard to imagine he will be well enough to lead a full programme of events for Easter, the holiest period in the Christian calendar that is less than six weeks away.

Many believe that Francis, who has not been seen in public since he went into hospital, has to change course.

"This is the end of the pontificate as we have known it until now," Kubler said.

- Unfinished reforms -

Francis struck a sharp contrast to his cerebral predecessor when he took office, eschewing the trappings of office and reaching out to the most disadvantaged in society with a message that the Church was for everyone.

A former archbishop of Buenos Aires more at home with his flock than the cardinals of the Roman Curia, Francis introduced sweeping reforms across the Vatican and beyond.

Some of the changes, from reorganising the Vatican's finances to increasing the role of women and opening the Church to divorced and LGBTQ members, have been laid down in official texts.

But a wide-ranging discussion on the future of the Church, known as a Synod, is not yet finished.

There are also many who would happily see his work undone.

Traditionalists have strongly resisted his approach, and an outcry in Africa caused the Vatican to clarify its authorisation of non-liturgical blessings for same-sex couples in 2023.

"Whether we like him or not, he has shifted the dial, but many things are still pending," a Vatican source said.

F.Jackson--ThChM