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Worldwide Prayers For ‘Critically’ Sick Pope Francis
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By Kayode Sanni-Arewa
Pope Francis spent his tenth day in hospital Sunday as Catholics around the world prayed for his recovery, the day after the Vatican warned the 88-year-old’s condition was “critical”.
The Argentine pontiff, who is being treated for double pneumonia, suffered a prolonged asthma-style attack on Saturday and required blood transfusions for a low platelet count.
On Sunday morning the Holy See said “the night passed peacefully, the pope rested” — indicating no repeat of the crisis the previous day, Vatican sources said.
But Francis, who had part of a lung removed when he was a young man, is still receiving oxygen through a tube in his nostrils in the papal suite at Rome’s Gemelli hospital.
In a message published Sunday but written in the past few days, the Jesuit thanked hospital staff and said he had confidence in his treatment.
“I am confidently continuing my hospitalisation at the Gemelli Hospital, carrying on with the necessary treatment — and rest is also part of the therapy!” he said.
“I ask you to pray for me,” he concluded in the text published in lieu of his weekly Sunday Angelus, which he normally delivers from a window overlooking St Peter’s Square.
People pray at the feet of a statue of John Paul II outside the Gemelli hospital where Pope Francis is hospitalized for pneumonia in Rome on February 23, 2025. (Photo by Alberto PIZZOLI / AFP)
Francis, who has been head of the Catholic Church since 2013, was admitted on February 14 initially with bronchitis, but his condition has deteriorated since then.
In its evening update Saturday, the Vatican warned his “condition continues to be critical, therefore the pope is not out of danger”.
It said Francis was alert and “spent the day in an armchair even if he was suffering more than” the day before.
It said he had a “prolonged asthmatic respiratory crisis, which also required the application of high-flow oxygen”.
Daily blood tests also “showed thrombocytopenia, associated with anaemia, which required the administration of blood transfusions”, it added.
Thrombocytopenia is a condition that occurs when the platelet count in the blood is too low, which can cause trouble stopping bleeding.
Blood or platelet transfusions, delivered via an intravenous (IV) line, are given to people who are either bleeding heavily or at very high risk of bleeding, according to the US National Institutes of Health (NIH).
“The pope gets worse,” headlined Italy’s Corriere della Sera newspaper on Sunday, while La Repubblica described it as the “darkest day” at the Vatican.
Well-wishers have been leaving candles outside the Gemelli since Francis was admitted, and a special mass was planned for Sunday evening in Rome.
“I am praying for him, for his health, because he is a special person for all of us,” Italian teacher Ilde Zito told AFP at the hospital.
Prayers and messages of solidarity also came in from among the almost 1.4 billion Catholics across the globe, alongside other Christians and world leaders.
In the cathedral of Buenos Aires, where Francis was once archbishop, TV screens at the entrance showed images of then Jorge Bergoglio’s good works, and the priest held a special mass.
“He is strong, he has always been strong, but there is nature. I know he is very ill and old. I hope he recovers, but it makes me sad,” Hector Armando Diaz, 76, a retired sales clerk, told AFP there.
Across the world in Iraq’s northern city of Mosul, a former bastion of the Islamic State group that Francis visited in 2021, at least a dozen churches also held prayers for him.
“This is the least we can do to express our solidarity, love, and appreciation for this great person,” said university professor Adnan Hadi.
Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, offered her hopes on social media for a speedy recovery for the “great humanist” Francis, the first pope from the Americas.
Francis’s continued hospitalisation has sparked huge concern about his health but also speculation about whether he might step down.
He has always left the door open to following his predecessor, Benedict XVI, who in 2013 became the first pope since the Middle Ages to resign.
But he has repeatedly said it was not the time.
The pope maintains a punishing work schedule. He carried out a mammoth 12-day tour to the Asia-Pacific in September, but has suffered increasing health issues.
He underwent colon surgery in 2021 and an operation for a hernia two years later. He is overweight and has constant hip and knee pain, which forces him to use a wheelchair.
AFP
The family of Alexx Ekubo has formally confirmed the demise of Nollywood actor, ending days of speculation and concern surrounding his health.
In a statement released on Wednesday evening on behalf of the family, they disclosed that the actor died at Evercare Hospital following complications from advanced metastatic kidney cancer after what was described as a brief but courageous battle with the illness.
The family described the late actor as a beloved husband, son, brother and friend, noting that he faced the difficult period with strength, faith and hope.
According to the statement, Alexx Ekubo believed that one day his healing testimony would be shared publicly, even as he quietly battled the illness away from the spotlight.
“It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved Husband, Son, Brother, and Friend, Alexx Ikenna Ekubo-Okwaraeke,” the statement read.
“After a brief but courageous battle, Alexx passed away at Evercare Hospital due to complications arising from advanced metastatic kidney cancer.”
The family added that throughout the illness, the actor remained hopeful and deeply faithful despite the pain.
“Throughout this difficult journey, he bore his pain with remarkable strength, unwavering faith, and enduring hope, believing that one day his testimony would be shared with the world,” the statement added.
They also appealed to the public for privacy and prayers during the difficult period while assuring that funeral arrangements and other details would be announced later.
The statement further appreciated fans, friends and supporters for their love, prayers and support throughout the period.
Operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) have nabbed Mustapha Abdullahi, the director-general of the Energy Commission of Nigeria, over alleged money laundering offences involving more than N500 billion.
TheCable understands that Abdullahi was arrested in Abuja on Wednesday and is currently being held in the custody of the anti-graft agency for further investigation.
Cable
. We’ll continue to work with local and international partners until illicit drug supply chain is fully broken in Nigeria, Marwa assures
Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have intercepted a large consignment of Canadian Loud, a high-potency strain of cannabis, weighing 4,173.5 kilograms with a street value of Ten Billion Four Hundred and Thirty-Three Million Seven Hundred and Fifty Thousand Naira (N10, 433, 750,000.00) only at the Tincan Island Port in Lagos.
The successful interdiction of the illicit drug consignment followed painstaking intelligence gathering, sustained surveillance, and trailing of the container, which was transloaded a number of times since it left Toronto, Canada on 28th March, conveyed through rails to Montreal, where it was loaded on board a vessel, Jakarta express voyage, which arrived Tanger Med Port in Morocco on 15th April, discharged and reloaded on another vessel, Osaka voyage, which eventually arrived the Lagos Port on Saturday 9th May 2026.
The over two months of monitoring the shipment by the Marine Intelligence Unit of NDLEA and the Tincan Island Strategic Command of the Agency, working in close collaboration with international partners particularly the United Kingdom Home Office International Operations, the United States Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, culminated in the eventual seizure of the consignment on Tuesday 12th May during a joint examination of the container by NDLEA operatives, men of Customs Service and other security agencies.
The development comes barely four days after NDLEA operatives raided a Lekki mansion used as stash house where 4,000 parcels of same psychoactive substance weighing 2,326 kilograms worth over Five Billion Eight Hundred and Fifteen Million Naira (N5,815,000,000.00) were recovered.
The illicit drug consignments from Canada were professionally packed and concealed inside two vehicles: a used Ford Bus and a Mercedes Benz C300 car, stashed within the shipping container. Speaking during the handover of the exhibits by the NCS at the Port in Lagos on Wednesday 13th May, the NDLEA’s Director of Seaports Operations, ACG Ibinabo ArchieAbia said the “achievement once again demonstrates the effectiveness of inter-agency cooperation, international collaboration, and intelligence-driven operations in combating transnational organized crime and illicit drug trafficking.”
Reacting to the development, the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), commended the officers of the Tincan Command and the MIU of the Agency for their vigilance and professional conduct, noting that the volume of recent Loud seizures highlights a coordinated attempt by international drug syndicates to flood the Nigerian market with synthetic strains of cannabis.
“This second massive seizure in less than a week is a clear message to the international syndicates who think they can use our ports as entry points for their soul-destroying trade, that the synergy between NDLEA and Customs Service as well as other security agencies and our international partners like the Canadian Royal Mounted Police, the UK-HOIO and the US DEA is yielding fantastic results. We will not rest until every link in this supply chain is broken and those behind these shipments are brought to justice”, Marwa stated.
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