VATICAN CITY: A chest X-ray has confirmed a “slight improvement” in Pope Francis’s lungs as he recovers from five weeks in hospital with life-threatening pneumonia, the Vatican said on Tuesday.
The 88-year-old Catholic leader left Rome’s Gemelli hospital on March 23 after a stay in which doctors said he had almost died twice, returning to the Vatican for a convalescence of at least two months.
The Vatican press office said a chest X-ray carried out in recent days confirmed a “slight improvement” in his pulmonary infection.
Improvements were also reported in his motor skills, voice and breathing. Although he continues to use oxygen through a cannula, the Argentine pontiff can remove it for short periods.
His doctors previously said that with double pneumonia the lungs are damaged and the respiratory muscles are strained, so it can take time for the voice to return to normal.
Francis remains in the Santa Marta guesthouse, taking part in mass every morning in the chapel on the second floor where he has lived since becoming head of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics in March 2013.
He has had no visits beyond his doctors and closest associates, the Vatican said, adding that his morale remained “good.”
The Argentine pope missed his seventh successive Angelus prayer on Sunday and there is no word on whether he will make an appearance this weekend, although another briefing is due on Friday.
The Vatican has also declined to say how the pope will participate in upcoming events for Easter, the holiest period in the Christian calendar, although it has included on its schedule the traditional “Urbi et Orbi” blessing on Easter Sunday – which only a pope can deliver.
Francis has been largely out of the public eye since he was admitted to hospital on February 14.
On the day he left the Gemelli, he appeared in a wheelchair on a hospital balcony, waving his hands from his lap to the hundreds of pilgrims gathered below to greet him.
He spoke a few words in a weak voice, saying through a microphone: “Thank you, everyone.”
He then noted a woman below with yellow flowers, and added: “Well done.”
Francis then was spotted being driven away from the hospital, a cannula in his nose.
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Vatican: Pope Francis’s condition improving
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Vatican: Pope Francis’s condition improving
- The 88-year-old Catholic leader left Rome’s Gemelli hospital on March 23 after a lengthy stay
- Pope Francis remains in the Santa Marta guesthouse, taking part in mass every morning
Philippine President Marcos hit with impeachment complaint
- Rage over so-called ghost infrastructure projects has been building for months in the archipelago country of 116 million
- President accused of systematically bilking taxpayers out of billions of dollars for bogus flood control projects
MANILA: Members of Philippine civil society groups filed an impeachment complaint against President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. on Thursday, accusing him of systematically bilking taxpayers out of billions of dollars for bogus flood control projects.
Rage over so-called ghost infrastructure projects has been building for months in the archipelago country of 116 million, where entire towns were buried in floodwaters driven by powerful typhoons in the past year.
The filing, endorsed by the Makabayan bloc, a coalition of left-wing political parties, accuses Marcos of betraying the public trust by packing the national budget with projects aimed at redirecting funds to allies.
Under the Philippine Constitution, passage of articles of impeachment in the House of Representatives triggers a Senate trial, where a guilty verdict would mean removal from office and disqualification from future public posts.
A copy of the complaint was filed at the House’s Office of the Secretary General “in accordance with House rules,” petitioners said Thursday, though it was not marked as received as the top official was not present.
“The President institutionalized a mechanism to siphon over ?545.6 billion ($9.2 billion) in flood control funds, directing them into the hands of favored cronies and contractors and converting public coffers into a private war chest for the 2025 (mid-term) elections,” a summary of the filing seen by AFP says.
It also accuses the president of directly soliciting kickbacks, a charge that relies heavily on unproven allegations made by a former congressman who fled the country while under investigation.
Presidential spokeswoman Claire Castro, who told reporters on Thursday that Marcos was recovering after spending the night under medical observation for an undisclosed illness, declined to discuss the filing.
“Let’s wait (to see) its contents, we cannot address that as of now if we don’t have the details of their complaints,” she said.
Marcos has consistently noted that he was the one who put the issue of ghost projects center stage and taken credit for pushing investigations that have seen scores of construction firm owners, government officials and lawmakers implicated.
But complainant Liza Maza told reporters on Thursday she believed the moves were only intended to deflect blame.
“We think the investigation he initiated is just a cover-up,” she said. “Because the truth is, he is the head of this corruption.”
Hours later, a group with ties to former president Rodrigo Duterte showed up at the House of Representatives with their own corruption-based impeachment complaint against the president, only to depart without leaving a copy.
‘Slim chance’
Thursday’s complaint was not the first filed against Marcos this week.
Under the constitution, any citizen can file an impeachment complaint provided it is endorsed by one of the more than 300 members of Congress.
On Monday, a local lawyer brought a case citing Rodrigo Duterte’s arrest and transfer to the International Criminal Court, as well as unproven allegations of drug abuse.
Dennis Coronacion, chair of the political science department at Manila’s University of Santo Tomas, said at the time that the document relied largely on “rehashed or recycled allegations” and lacked “sufficient evidence.”
On Thursday, Coronacion said the new complaint was also unlikely to go far in a Congress packed with Marcos allies.
“(It) has a very slim chance of getting the approval of the House Committee on Justice and (even less) so, in the plenary, because the president still enjoys the support of the members of the House of Representatives,” Coronacion said.
Rage over so-called ghost infrastructure projects has been building for months in the archipelago country of 116 million, where entire towns were buried in floodwaters driven by powerful typhoons in the past year.
The filing, endorsed by the Makabayan bloc, a coalition of left-wing political parties, accuses Marcos of betraying the public trust by packing the national budget with projects aimed at redirecting funds to allies.
Under the Philippine Constitution, passage of articles of impeachment in the House of Representatives triggers a Senate trial, where a guilty verdict would mean removal from office and disqualification from future public posts.
A copy of the complaint was filed at the House’s Office of the Secretary General “in accordance with House rules,” petitioners said Thursday, though it was not marked as received as the top official was not present.
“The President institutionalized a mechanism to siphon over ?545.6 billion ($9.2 billion) in flood control funds, directing them into the hands of favored cronies and contractors and converting public coffers into a private war chest for the 2025 (mid-term) elections,” a summary of the filing seen by AFP says.
It also accuses the president of directly soliciting kickbacks, a charge that relies heavily on unproven allegations made by a former congressman who fled the country while under investigation.
Presidential spokeswoman Claire Castro, who told reporters on Thursday that Marcos was recovering after spending the night under medical observation for an undisclosed illness, declined to discuss the filing.
“Let’s wait (to see) its contents, we cannot address that as of now if we don’t have the details of their complaints,” she said.
Marcos has consistently noted that he was the one who put the issue of ghost projects center stage and taken credit for pushing investigations that have seen scores of construction firm owners, government officials and lawmakers implicated.
But complainant Liza Maza told reporters on Thursday she believed the moves were only intended to deflect blame.
“We think the investigation he initiated is just a cover-up,” she said. “Because the truth is, he is the head of this corruption.”
Hours later, a group with ties to former president Rodrigo Duterte showed up at the House of Representatives with their own corruption-based impeachment complaint against the president, only to depart without leaving a copy.
‘Slim chance’
Thursday’s complaint was not the first filed against Marcos this week.
Under the constitution, any citizen can file an impeachment complaint provided it is endorsed by one of the more than 300 members of Congress.
On Monday, a local lawyer brought a case citing Rodrigo Duterte’s arrest and transfer to the International Criminal Court, as well as unproven allegations of drug abuse.
Dennis Coronacion, chair of the political science department at Manila’s University of Santo Tomas, said at the time that the document relied largely on “rehashed or recycled allegations” and lacked “sufficient evidence.”
On Thursday, Coronacion said the new complaint was also unlikely to go far in a Congress packed with Marcos allies.
“(It) has a very slim chance of getting the approval of the House Committee on Justice and (even less) so, in the plenary, because the president still enjoys the support of the members of the House of Representatives,” Coronacion said.
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