As the March issue of the Catholic Herald went to press it was not clear when Pope Francis would be leaving the Gemelli Hospital in Rome, or indeed in what condition; it was a sobering lesson for anyone who has relied on his robustness over the last few years, and his tendency to bounce back from the ailments with which he has been beset.
The Pope remains very poorly indeed, and the bizarre updates detailing papal breakfasts and intimate medical procedures have been unsettling, to say the least. It is twenty years since a pope died in office, and the Church is out of practice.
