Sawt Falasteen - Convalescing pope says illness is universal as misses another Angelus

The 88-year-old head of the Catholic Church left Rome's Gemelli hospital last Sunday after five weeks of treatment, returning to the Vatican for what his doctors said would be at least two months of convalescence.

Francis was again absent for this weekend's Angelus, normally delivered at midday on Sunday from a window of the Apostolic Palace overlooking St Peter's Square.

The Vatican published the text instead, as it has since his hospitalisation on February 14.

"Dearest friends, let us live this Lent as a time of healing," Francis wrote, referring to 40 days before Easter, the holiest period in the Christian calendar. Easter Sunday this year falls on April 20.

"I too am experiencing it this way, in my soul and in my body."

He added: "Frailty and illness are experiences we all have in common; all the more, however, we are brothers in the salvation Christ has given us."

The Vatican said Friday the pope was showing "slight improvements", with his voice -- strained and weak following his double pneumonia -- reported to be stronger.

Doctors said Francis almost died twice during his hospitalisation, the longest and most fraught of his 12 years as head of the Church.

- 'He is alive' -

Millions of Catholics are visiting Rome and the Vatican for the 2025 papal Jubilee, a year of religious celebrations, and crowds gathered Sunday in St Peter's Square despite the pope's absence.

"It is not so important whether he shows himself or not. What is important is that he is alive," Xuchitl Vazquez, a 71-year-old pilgrim from Mexico, told AFP.

"What is important is that he is aware of what is happening in the world and the world is aware of what is happening to him," she added.

The pope on Sunday offered his prayers for conflicts including Ukraine, Israel and the Palestinian territories, and also for quake-hit Myanmar.

Francis said he was following "with concern" the situation in South Sudan, where there has been heightened confrontation in recent weeks between the rival factions that fought each other in the 2013-2018 civil war.

"I renew my heartfelt appeal to all leaders to do their utmost to lower the tension in the country," he said, urging everyone to put aside their differences and engage in "constructive dialogue".

Francis also urged new negotiations as soon as possible in war-torn Sudan, and urged the international community to boost efforts to address "the appalling humanitarian catastrophe".

The leader of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics noted that "thanks be to God, there are also positive events".

He described a recent border agreement between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan -- seen as key for the stability of Central Asia -- as an "excellent diplomatic achievement".

P.Tamimi--SF-PST