March has always been a historic month for Pope Francis.
It was the month, in 1958, when he joined the Society of Jesus and the month, in 2013, when he was elected pope.
Yet, this March 13 — as he marks the 12th anniversary of that election — he will celebrate from a sobering location: a hospital suite, where he has battled double pneumonia for the last month in the gravest health crisis of his pontificate.
Earlier this week, on March 10, doctors said that Francis was no longer in imminent danger of death, and a long recovery period is likely.
Serious health challenges remain for the 88-year-old, who is one of history’s oldest popes. Francis has still not fully recovered from pneumonia and doctors describe his overall medical picture as complex.
Even before his hospitalization, Francis had limited mobility — regularly relying on a wheelchair and experiencing breathing difficulty. Doctors have yet to say when he might be released from the hospital and return to his residence at the Casa Santa Marta — the Vatican guesthouse where he has lived since 2013.
Since at least March 3, Francis has received mechanical ventilation throughout the night and high-flow oxygen therapy via nasal tubes during the day to assist with breathing.
Yet the determined pope — who has been undeterred by restricted mobility — has said that “One governs with the head, not the knee.” The same might also be about his voice.
On March 6, the Vatican released the pope’s first audio message since his hospitalization began. Francis’ weak voice made clear that it will be some time before he is able to deliver long speeches or homilies.
As pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square for the nightly rosary vigils for the pontiff’s recovery, it was a mixed blessing to hear his voice once again fill the square: It reminded the world that he was still here, but it also illustrated his suffering.
But as Francis’ longtime close collaborator and fellow Jesuit, Fr. Antonio Spadaro, said on Italian television a day later, the decision to release the audio — unfiltered and without enhancements — came from the pope alone.
“In the world today, the powerful yell. He whispers,” Spadaro said.
During the final years of Pope John Paul II’s nearly 27-year papacy, the incapacitated pontiff was surrounded by strong aides. His powerful secretary of state, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, and his longtime secretary, (now Cardinal) Stanisław Dziwisz, effectively served as vice popes.
“[John Paul II] lived but was not governing because he was incapable,” said Austen Ivereigh, a biographer and collaborator of Francis.
In an interview with the National Catholic Reporter, Ivereigh said that Pope Benedict XVI’s longtime secretary, Archbishop Georg Ganswein, made clear in his memoir that Benedict resigned to avoid a repeat scenario — what some have termed an “impeded see,” referring to the church’s government.
“I think it’s been very clear from the communiques that we do not have an impeded see,” Ivereigh said of the pope’s monthlong hospitalization. “The pope has been working, signing documents and receiving senior Vatican officials.”
“The pope is governing, the pope is in charge,” Ivereigh said. “And as long as there isn’t an impeded see, there’s no immediate need for a resignation.” Curia, the Vatican’s central bureaucracy, is being carried out “ad mentem Papam” — in the mind of the pope.
