Italian bishops: The Bed of the Gemelli, solid chair of its luminous teaching

Within the framework of the twelve anniversary of the pontificate of Pope Francis, admitted for a month at the hospital for bilateral pneumonia, the Italian bishops affirmed that “The Bed of the Gemelli” is “a solid chair of its luminous teaching of unity and charity.”

In a message Published on March 13, on the anniversary of the election as a pontiff of the Holy Father, the bishops of the Italian Episcopal Conference (CEI) took as reference the verse 17 of the book of the Exodus, which narrates the obstacles that Moses finds and the people of God on their way through the desert, to make memory of the twelve years of their pontificate.

For Italian prelates this image adapts well to the time Pope Francis is living, who since February 14 holds the Catholic Church from the tenth floor of the Gemelli Polyclinic Hospital in Rome.

As an analogy, the bishops said that “what Moses could not imagine was that the battle would be long and that tiredness could test it” and that, at that time, “someone takes care of him and makes him sit in a firm place, while his closest collaborators hold him in prayer.”

“It seems to us to see in this narrative a page of full news, linked to its historical moment. If on the one hand there is tiredness due to its state of health and hospitalization, on the other, we see a solid chair of its luminous teaching and charity in the Gemelli bed, ”said the prelates.

They also stressed that, like Aaron and Jur, “we support their hands in the prayer of delivery to the Lord”, at the same time that they thanked him “for his testimony and for the fortress that he continues to transmit to all.”

On behalf of the Catholic Church in Italy, the members of the CEI highlighted that this anniversary becomes “the reason for gratitude even greater to the Lord, who is Lord of time and history.”