Pope Francis publicly acknowledged that this Lenten season is a time of healing for his soul and body.

On Sunday, the Vatican published the text of the Sunday Angelus prayer prepared by Francis. This marks the seventh consecutive Sunday that his illness has kept him from personally delivering the blessing from a window overlooking St. Peter’s Square as per tradition.

“Beloved friends, let’s embrace this Lent as a period of recuperation, especially since it coincides with the Jubilee,” stated Francis. “I am also experiencing this time in a similar manner, both in spirit and in body.”

“Therefore, I extend my sincere gratitude to all those who, modeling the Saviour, are agents of healing for others through their words, wisdom, compassion, and prayers,” he added. “We all share in the trials of frailty and illness; yet, even more, we are united as brothers through the salvation Christ offers us.”

Faithful and pilgrims gather in St. Peter’s Square at The Vatican to follow on giant screens a live broadcast from Rome’s Agostino Gemelli Polyclinic, on Sunday, March 23, 2025, where Pope Francis made his first public appearance since he was hospitalized on Feb. 14 with bilateral pneumonia.  (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

The 88-year-old pontiff is still recovering from a respiratory infection, according to the Holy See Press Office. He continues to be weaned off oxygen support during the day and night, and his blood levels are normal. However, his medical team has ordered a strict convalescence period of at least two months following his hospital release last week. 

Francis has shown “a truly surprising improvement,” the doctor who coordinated the pontiff’s five-week hospitalization said Saturday.

Surgeon Sergio Alfieri speaks to journalists on Saturday, March 22, 2025, in the entrance hall of Rome’s Agostino Gemelli Polyclinic, where Pope Francis has been treated for bilateral pneumonia since Feb. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

“I find him very lively,” Dr. Sergio Alfieri said, after visiting the pope at his apartment in the Santa Marta Domus on Wednesday, three days after his release from Rome’s Gemelli hospital. “I believe that he will return if not to 100%, 90% of where he was before.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.