PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The city’s Catholic community is rallying around Pope Francis, who is in the hospital in critical condition. Services on Sunday, throughout the day, at the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul, have a special focus on the pope.
Francis on Saturday experienced a respiratory crisis that required “high flows” of oxygen to help him breathe, and blood transfusions after tests showed low counts of platelets, the Vatican said.
⛪ MORE: Pope Francis is conscious and receiving supplemental oxygen following a respiratory crisis
Dennis Boylan is a lector at the basilica’s 8 a.m. Sunday mass. Like many of other parishioners, he says his heart and mind are with Pope Francis, who is hospitalized in Rome in critical condition with a complex lung infection.
He says one of the moments to keep the pope in mind is during prayer.
“The Prayer of the Faithful is one of the things that will be read at Mass, today,” said Boylan.
“The universal prayer today will be for our Holy Father, Pope Francis, that he may be strengthened in every way by the Lord in his present suffering and be uplifted by the prayers for him by the people all over the world.”
In addition to prayer at mass, Boylan offered a more personal wish: “Get well, Holy Father. Come back to Philadelphia.”
Doctors have said the pope’s condition is touch-and-go, given his age, fragility and pre-existing lung disease.
The Philadelphia Archdiocese released a statement from Archbishop Nelson Perez, calling on everyone in the region to pray for the pontiff.
“May God ease the suffering of Pope Francis and return him to health so that he may continue his Petrine Ministry for the good of the Universal Church and our world,” wrote the archbishop.