ROME (AP) — The Vatican on Monday announced the start of nighttime prayers for the health of Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Square, and invited Romans and others to join in, as the 88-year-old pontiff battled a complex lung infection and complications.
The Vatican No. 2, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, is to lead the first prayer on Monday evening. The announcement immediately brought to mind the nighttime candlelit vigils in the piazza that preceded the 2005 death of St. John Paul II.
Francis, who has double pneumonia and the early stages of kidney insufficiency, was awake and in good spirits Monday. He is not in pain and is not receiving artificial
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