CDA meeting Monday

Catholic Daughters of the Americas Court #1291 meeting will be after the 5:30 p.m. Mass on Monday in Carlin Hall. This will be the Priest Appreciation Potluck celebration. Please bring a favorite food dish to share; the meeting will follow.

Recovering Pope visits children’s cancer ward before discharge from hospital

ROME (AP) — Pope Francis visited the children’s cancer ward of Rome’s Gemelli hospital on the eve of his expected discharge following abdominal surgery, the Vatican said Thursday.

The Vatican released the first images of Francis since his June 7 hospitalization, showing him in his wheelchair in the corridor of the pediatric oncology ward, meeting with children, their parents and medical staff. In one photo, he is shown elsewhere speaking with a couple in a private room, the man in a wheelchair.

The Vatican said Francis also met with the staff and administration of the hospital and said doctors confirmed he would be discharged this morning.

The 86-year-old pope was admitted to Gemelli hospital on June 7 for surgery to repair a hernia in his abdominal wall and remove intestinal scar tissue that had caused blockages. It was his third hospitalization at Gemelli as pope, and confirmed a trend that he visits young cancer patients the day before he is discharged.

Francis in 2021 had 13 inches of his colon removed at Gemelli because of a narrowing of the intestine.