Pope Francis Battles Illness and Addresses the Sins of Envy and Vainglory

"Excuse me, I'm still a bit cold. Therefore, I asked Monsignor Ciampanelli to read today's catechesis," Pope Francis appears at the audience in the Paul VI Hall for the weekly audience a bit pale. He is still recovering from the flu tail that has forced him in recent days - even yesterday afternoon - to skip several commitments including the meeting with the parish priests of North Rome. It should have been held in a parish of the sector, exactly as he had already done in other areas of the capital but everything was postponed until his physical conditions will allow it. Doctors continue to repeat to Bergoglio that to heal it is necessary to respect rest and avoid drafts not to worsen the bronchitis. On the stage of the Nervi Hall, the microphone was thus passed to the official of the Secretariat of State, Monsignor Filippo Ciampanelli who for the second time lent him his voice, exactly as he had done also on November 29 when Bergoglio was struck again by bronchitis. By now, relapses are frequent, proving that the pope's lungs are subject to severe inflammation. Pope Francis: "I am alive and I am treating myself, I have acute and infectious bronchitis." The catechesis this time is based on two particularly insidious and frequent capital sins: envy and vainglory. It starts from Cain and Abel to highlight that if "envy is not controlled, it leads to hatred of the other (...) At its base there is a relationship of hate and love: one wants the evil of the other, but secretly desires to be like him. The other is the epiphany of what we would like to be, and that in reality we are not." Is there an antidote to envy? Yes, love. "Love one another with brotherly affection, outdo one another in showing honor. Here is the remedy to envy! Pope Francis how is he really? The inflammation in the lungs, the cannula, and the unrecited Angelus The second vice we examine is vainglory. "It goes hand in hand with the demon of envy, and together these two vices are typical of a person who aspires to be the center of the world, free to exploit everything and everyone, the object of all praise and all love. Vainglory is an inflated and unfounded self-esteem. The vainglorious possesses an "I" that is cumbersome: he has no empathy and does not realize that there are other people in the world besides him. His relationships are always instrumental, aimed at the subjugation of the other. His person, his enterprises, his successes must be shown to everyone: he is a perpetual beggar for attention. And if sometimes his qualities are not recognized, then he gets fiercely angry" reads the text. Pope Francis only at the end of the audience read with a tired voice a brief text against landmines and in favor of peace. Then he greeted the bishops from Emilia and the various parish groups that were present at the audience. "Let us pray for the recent attacks against places of worship in Burkina Faso." Pope Francis how is he? The pontiff has a cough again and cannot read a speech: health monitored The Pope's day also includes an audience with the Armenian bishops to whom he entrusted his concerns for Armenia and for those fleeing from Nagorno-Karabakh, the many displaced families seeking refuge! "So many wars, so much suffering. The First World War was supposed to be the last and the States constituted themselves in the League of Nations, "forerunner" of the United Nations, thinking that this would be enough to preserve the gift of peace. Yet since then, how many conflicts and massacres, always tragic and always useless. So many times I have pleaded: Enough!. Let us all echo the cry of peace, because it touches hearts, even those insensitive to the suffering of the poor and the humble." The Pope goes on TV: "For now I feel good. Resignation? Not in my thoughts."