ROME: Pope Francis is recovering well from pneumonia and that a “new stage” in his pontificate would open, two of his closest advisers said Friday, offering notes of optimism as the 88-year-old pontiff hit the five-week mark in his hospitalization.
Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra told AP that he had found Francis in good humor and serene during the three times he has visited the pope at the Gemelli hospital in Rome.
Peña Parra, who is the Vatican chief of staff, visited Francis on Feb. 24, March 2 and March 9 along with the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the lone Vatican officials who have called on him aside from his personal secretaries.
“The pope will recover,” Peña Parra said on the sidelines of a book launch. “The pope is recovering well. The doctors say that he needs some time, but it’s going well progressively.”
“I found him well, serene, in good humor, and — just like him — tough with the desire to go forward,” he said.
The Vatican press office reported Friday that Francis’ overall condition remained stable, with slight improvements as he continues respiratory and physical physiotherapy. He was continuing to reduce his reliance on high-flow supplemental oxygen he has needed to breathe during the day and no longer needs the mechanical ventilation mask at night.
In other comments Friday, another top friend and ally of the pope, Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, said that “a new stage” was opening in Francis’ 12-year pontificate and that he expects some surprises from the pontiff when he’s released.
Fernández, the Argentine theologian whom Francis brought in as the Vatican’s doctrine chief, said that he had been in touch with Francis since his Feb. 14 hospitalization and was heartened that he had stabilized. He provided no time frame on when Francis might be released, but ruled out any thought that he might resign.
He said that he understood that Francis was responding well to treatment, but that doctors were keeping him at the hospital “to be 100 percent.” He said that Francis needed rehabilitation therapy to help him regain strength to speak after so many weeks on noninvasive mechanical ventilation and supplemental oxygen.
Fernández revealed that Francis had resisted going to the hospital when his bronchitis worsened, and only agreed to go after people close to him threatened to quit if he didn’t.
“I don’t know what swear words they used (to tell him) you have to go there, otherwise we go home and end our relationship here,” he said.
As a result, he said he knew that the hospitalization had been hard on Francis and had surely made him reflect.
“I think a new stage is opening for him. He is a man of surprises, who will surely have learned so many things in this month and he’ll pull who knows what out of the hat,” he said. “So even knowing that this has been a very heavy effort for him, a difficult time, I know it will be fruitful for the church and for the world.”
Francis hit the five-week mark in his hospitalization Friday. He was admitted Feb. 14 with a bad case of bronchitis that developed into a complex lung infection and double pneumonia. He has long battled respiratory illnesses and had part of one lung removed when he was a young man. He has admitted to being a bad patient and is a known workaholic.
“He wants to spend what little time he has left and says ‘I want to use it and not to take care of myself,’” Fernández said. “And then what happens? He comes back here and it’s not easy for him to follow the advice” of doctors.
That might change after this experience, he said.
“He has to certainly change, but I can’t say what those details might be,” he said.
Pope Francis advisers say he’ll recover from pneumonia and a ‘new stage’ is opening for him
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Pope Francis advisers say he’ll recover from pneumonia and a ‘new stage’ is opening for him

- Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra told AP that he had found Francis in good humor
- “The pope is recovering well. The doctors say that he needs some time, but it’s going well progressively“
Saudi crown prince hopes India-Pakistan ceasefire restores ‘calm’ between neighbors

- India and Pakistan exchanged missiles, drone attacks and artillery fire last week before agreeing to ceasefire
- Saudi Arabia was one of several countries that defused tensions between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan
ISLAMABAD: Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Wednesday hoped the recent ceasefire agreement between India and Pakistan would contain escalation and “restore calm” between the two neighbors, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.
Pakistan has credited Saudi Arabia and several other nations for playing a constructive role in defusing its tensions with India last week after fighting erupted between the two. US President Donald Trump announced on Saturday that Washington had brokered a ceasefire between India and Pakistan, calming fears of an all-out war between the nuclear-armed states.
The Saudi crown prince welcomed the ceasefire during his opening address at the GCC-USA summit in Riyadh on Wednesday, which was held in Trump’s presence.
“We welcome the ceasefire agreement between Pakistan and India and hope that it will contain escalation and restore calm between the two countries,” the crown prince said as per the SPA.
The Saudi crown prince said the Kingdom aimed to work with Trump and GCC countries to de-escalate tensions in the region, end the war in Gaza and seek a “lasting and comprehensive solution” to the Palestinian cause.
“Our objective is to ensure security and peace for the peoples of the region,” he said. “We reiterate our support for all endeavors aimed at resolving crises and halting conflicts through peaceful means.”
The fragile ceasefire has temporarily halted hostilities with India and Pakistan trading blame for the conflict.
Judge says Georgetown student can be released from immigration detention as case proceeds

- Khan Suri was arrested by masked, plain-clothed officers on the evening of March 17
VIRGINIA, USA: A federal judge on Wednesday ordered that a Georgetown scholar from India be released from immigration detention after he was detained in the Trump administration’s crackdown on foreign college students.
Khan Suri was arrested by masked, plain-clothed officers on the evening of March 17 outside his apartment complex in Arlington, Virginia. Officials said his visa was revoked because of his social media posts and his wife’s connection to Gaza as a Palestinian American.
They accused him of supporting Hamas, which the US has designated as a terrorist organization.
By the time Khan Suri’s petition was filed, authorities had already put him on a plane to Louisiana without allowing him to update his family or lawyer, Khan Suri’s attorneys said.
A few days later, he was moved again to Texas.
German Chancellor Merz says Israel should bring hostages back alive

- Merz said that in principle it should be possible for an Israeli prime minister to visit Germany
BERLIN: Germany wants to see the hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, including Germans, brought back alive and Israel should consider this in its military actions in the strip, Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Wednesday.
Asked whether Germany would implement an arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Merz said that in principle it should be possible for an Israeli prime minister to visit Germany.
How this could happen would be clarified when necessary, he said at the joint press conference with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres in Berlin, adding that no bilateral visits by him or Netanyahu were currently planned.
Merz said future financial support for UNRWA, the United Nations’ agency for Palestinian refugees, was conditional on the organization being reformed.
Italy’s Meloni urges Israel's Netanyahu to respect international law in Gaza

- Giorgia Meloni said her conversations in recent months with Israel's Netanyahu were 'often difficult'
ROME: Israel must respect international law in its military operation in Gaza, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Wednesday, calling the humanitarian situation in the Palestinian enclave increasingly “dramatic and unjustifiable.”
Israel invaded Gaza after the Hamas-led attack on southern Israeli communities on October 7, 2023, and has recently announced plans for an expanded offensive to defeat militant group Hamas.
“Over the past months I have spoken with Prime Minister (Benjamin) Netanyahu on several occasions, and the conversations have often been difficult,” Meloni told a question time session in the Italian lower house of parliament.
More than 52,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli offensive, according to local health authorities. The military campaign has left Gaza on the brink of famine, aid groups and international agencies say.
“I have always recalled the urgency of finding a way to end the hostilities and respect international law and international humanitarian law. A request that I renew today,” Meloni said.
Israeli strikes intensified this week, killing dozens in northern Gaza, locals have said.
French President Emmanuel Macron this week also criticized Netanyahu’s policy in Gaza, calling it shameful. The Israeli leader struck back accusing Macron of siding with Hamas.
Meloni’s government has been one of Israel’s most vocal supporters within Europe, but there has been growing unease within parts of her coalition over Israel’s relentless and long-running military campaign.
Japan grounds military training aircraft after crash leaves 2 crew members missing

- The crashed plane was a 36-year-old T-4 operated out of Nyutabaru Air Base
- It was not fitted with a voice recorder or a flight data recorder
TOKYO: Japan grounded most of its aging military training aircraft on Wednesday after one of the planes crashed minutes after take off.
Two crew are missing after the T-4 training aircraft operated by the Japan Air Self-Defense Force crashed after taking off from Komaki Air Base, in the central Japanese prefecture of Aichi, officials said.
The force said the plane was lost from radar two minutes after departure. The authorities are searching for the missing aircraft and its crew in an area near a reservoir known as the Iruka pond, officials said. The reservoir, in the city of Inuyama, is about 10 kilometers (6 miles) northeast of the air base.
The military has grounded temporarily nearly 200 T-4s until the cause of the accident is identified and safety checks and training are carried out, Hiroaki Uchikura, the air force chief of staff, told a news conference late Wednesday.
The crashed plane was a 36-year-old T-4 operated out of Nyutabaru Air Base, in the southern prefecture of Miyazaki. It was not fitted with a voice recorder or a flight data recorder.
Defense Minister Gen Nakatani earlier Wednesday told reporters that parts of the aircraft have been found at the crash site. Officials were also preparing to collect fuel apparently leaked from the aircraft and floating in the reservoir, Nakatani said.
Lifesaving equipment and helmets of the crew were also found, Uchikura said.
Witnesses told the NHK national broadcaster that they heard a loud noise like thunder, followed by sirens of police cars and fire engines.
The T-4 was returning to Nyutabaru air base after its crew had earlier helped deliver a F-15 fighter jet to Komaki Air Base for scheduled maintenance, Uchikura said.
A captain with more than 1,000 hours of flight experience had piloted the F-15, while a first lieutenant piloted the T-4. Both were in the T-4 on their way back to Komaki when the incident happened.
The crash is the latest in a series of defense aircraft accidents in recent years.
In April 2024, two SH-60K navy reconnaissance helicopters crashed during nighttime anti-submarine training near Torishima island, about 600 kilometers south of Tokyo, leaving all eight crewmembers dead.
In 2023, an army UH-60JA Black Hawk helicopter on a reconnaissance mission crashed off a southern island of Miyako, with the loss of 10 crew.