Pope Francis says 'we have to accept death' on Ash Wednesday

"Made of ashes and earth, we experience fragility through illness, poverty and the difficulties that can suddenly fall upon us and our families," said Pope Francis in his Ash Wednesday homily, which Cardinal Angelo De Donatis had to read on his behalf. The pontiff has been in hospital for twenty-one days, where he received communion and the Ash Wednesday cross yesterday.

Despite not being able to read the homily or appear before the faithful, Vatican sources said Thursday morning that he remains stable and was even able to work for a while sitting in an armchair. The pontiff has not suffered new respiratory crises, but continues to receive oxygen through a nasal tube. Despite a certain stability, his prognosis remains "reserved."

The homily reflected on the fragility of life, death, ideological and environmental pollution. A fragility, said Pope Francis, that reminds us of the "tragedy of death" and that, however much we try to avoid it, "it imposes itself as a reality that we must accept, a sign of the precariousness and brevity of our lives." The person in charge of reading it on behalf of the Pope was Cardinal Angelo De Donatis, who officiated the Ash Wednesday mass in the Basilica of Santa Sabina in Rome.

This text was read at a time when Pope Francis' health remains delicate. On Monday he had two episodes of acute respiratory failure due to a "significant accumulation of endobronchial mucus and a consequent bronchospasm," said the Vatican.

A few days before this, he suffered another bronchospasm that caused him to vomit and inhale vomit. An episode he suffered after need blood transfusions due to a low platelet count.