Despite concerns that he is driving himself too hard, Pope Francis will be back on the road today for a one-day visit to the southern Italian region of Molise. A couple of papal "no shows" in the last month, following an intense three-day trip to the Holy Land, prompted commentators to speculate that 77-year-old Pope Francis has been setting himself too busy a schedule.
Vatican senior spokesman, Fr Federico Lombardi, however, has been quick to deny that the pope has any major health issues, claiming that the recent cancellation of a visit to Rome's church-run Gemelli hospital was merely because of a "minor indisposition". Vatican sources suggest, in fact, that the pope had a stomach problem.
Molise visit
Just to prove the point, the pope visits Molise today at the end of a week which began with an audience with newly crowned Spanish king, Felipe VI and which was dominated by meetings with his so-called “G8” Council of Cardinals, the men who have been called to his side to help with the governance of the church and especially with the issue of Curia reform.
Recently, the daily La Stampa calculated that since his election last year, the pope has personally greeted some 12,000 people after his morning Mass at the Domus Santa Marta, not to mention the thousands he greets during his Wednesday public audiences. With a papal trip to South Korea planned for next month, there is little indication that he intends to slow down.
In Molise today, his programme comprises a “typical” Francis day with a series of encounters with the sick, the emarginated, young people and with both the region’s industrial leaders and some of the inmates of a prison in Isernia.
Act of solidarity
As with his visit to Calabria two weeks ago, when he “excommunicated” organised crime, the pope’s trip today represents an act of solidarity with the local Archbishop Giancarlo Bregantini, a prelate who in the past has bravely confronted the mafia. Not for nothing, Archbishop Bregantini was asked by Francis to read the meditations during the Via Crucis at the Colosseum last Easter.
As for his meetings with his G8 cardinals, Fr Lombardi issued an upbeat briefing yesterday saying that the “overall tone” of the council has been “free, frank and friendly”.
In other words, over the course of the last four days – during which time Francis has been in attendance at all the sessions – issues relative to the reform of the Curia, of individual Holy See departments, of the Secretariat of State and of the Vatican Bank IOR have been addressed. As of now, however, said Fr Lombardi, no decisions have been made but the G8 (originally it comprised eight cardinals) is due to meet again in September, December and next February.