Manila archbishop calls for community prayers for Pope Francis’ healing

(FILES) Pope Francis gestures as he holds a holy mass at King Baudouin Stadium, in Brussels on September 29, 2024. The Vatican on February 18, 2025 cancelled two of Pope Francis’s events at the weekend as the 88-year-old continues to receive hospital treatment for bronchitis. (Photo by Alberto PIZZOLI / AFP)

MANILA, Philippines — Manila Archbishop Jose Cardinal Advincula on Wednesday called for community prayers for the healing of Pope Francis who is now in the hospital due to double pneumonia.

Advincula said that this request is a response to the appeal made by Archbishop Charles John Brown, Apostolic Nuncio to the Philippines, to pray for the Pope’s recovery, as well as the doctors and nurses taking care of him.

READ: Hospitalized Pope Francis has double pneumonia – Vatican

“I would like to request our parishes and communities to organize community prayers for the intention of the Pope. Let us likewise offer our personal and family prayers for this intention,” Archbishop Advincula said in a statement.

“Let us unite ourselves in prayer in this trying time for the Church,” he added.

The Vatican said on Tuesday that the 88-year-old Pope developed pneumonia in both of his lungs but is in “good spirits.”

It added that a “polymicrobial infection” on top of “bronchiectasis and asthmatic bronchitis, and which required the use of cortisone antibiotic therapy, makes therapeutic treatment more complex.”

READ: Pope’s condition ‘complex’, hospital stay extended: Vatican

The Manila Archbishop also offered the following prayer for the Pope:

Loving and merciful God, we implore You
to look kindly upon Your servant, Pope Francis,
Touch him with your compassion and consolation.
Restore his health and renew his strength
in mind, body, and spirit.

Surround him with your peace
and the support of the prayers of your holy people.
We place Pope Francis in your healing love
through the doctors, nurses,
and medical professionals who take care of him.

We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Mary, Health of the Sick, pray for us.