NewsThe news overview: Pope Francis's critical condition inspires global prayers, a draft resolution on the war in Ukraine
The news overview: Pope Francis's critical condition inspires global prayers, a draft resolution on the war in Ukraine
It happened while you were sleeping. Here’s what the world agencies recorded from Monday night to Tuesday.
- Hundreds of the faithful participated in a Mass for Pope Francis's health on Monday at Constitution Square in Buenos Aires, the capital of his native Argentina. Archbishop Jorge Garcia Cuerva, who officiated the Mass, described his pontificate as a "breath of oxygen for a world suffocated by violence." The 88-year-old pope has bilateral pneumonia. He has been at Rome's Gemelli Polyclinic for 11 days. Pope Francis's clinical condition is critical, but a slight improvement has been noted, the Vatican reported in Monday’s medical bulletin.
- Residents of Portacomaro, a small town in Piedmont, northern Italy, where Pope Francis's family is from, also gather at Masses in the local parish to pray for his health. The pope's 93-year-old cousin, Carla Rabezzana, lives in the town and constantly monitors updates about his condition. Media reports indicate that during each Mass, the local church is full. The faithful say, "We all pray that the Pope will leave the hospital healthy."
- Cuba experienced an unprecedented demographic crisis in 2024 due to high mortality rates and low birth numbers, the government's National Office of Statistics and Information (Onei) reported on Monday. As Onei’s deputy director, Juan Alfonso Fraga, noted, the island's population stood at just over 9.7 million on the last day of 2024.
- The UN Security Council adopted the U.S. draft resolution regarding the war in Ukraine, which does not designate Russia as an aggressor but refers to the "Russian-Ukrainian war." The document calls for a lasting end to the conflict but does not condemn the Russian invasion.
- The Eiffel Tower was illuminated in blue-yellow, the colours of the Ukrainian flag, on Monday, the third anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion. In this way, the authorities of Paris demonstrated, as in previous years, solidarity with Ukraine. The symbol of Paris lit up with Ukrainian national colours on Monday at 1 p.m. Eastern Time. Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo has visited Ukraine five times since the war began.
