"Pilgrims of hope"

Styrian church leaders pray for sick Pope

Deeply concerned about the head of the Catholic Church: Auxiliary Bishop Johannes Freitag, Diocesan Bishop Wilhelm Krautwaschl and university chaplain Alois Kölbl (from left).(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Jürgen Fuchs, Gerald Schwaiger, Christian Jauschowetz)

The Styrian church leaders are thinking of the seriously ill "Papa Francesco", who has been receiving treatment in the Gemelli Clinic in Rome for more than a week. Just a few days ago, Styrians traveled to the Eternal City as "pilgrims of hope".

They had been so looking forward to meeting Francis - but the hoped-for encounter in St. Peter's Square came to nothing: a group of sixty people from Styria, led by university chaplain Alois Kölbl, traveled to the Eternal City last week to visit the seven Roman pilgrimage churches.

It was a "pilgrimage of hope", as Alois Kölbl recounts: "We prayed intensively for the Pope. The prayer of the rosary in front of the Marian icon 'Salus Populi Romani' in the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, which the Holy Father visits before and after each of his trips, was particularly moving."

"I appreciate his love for the poor"
The new Styrian Auxiliary Bishop Johannes Freitag was also in Rome a few days ago - just at the time when "Papa Francesco" was admitted to the Gemelli Clinic. "I greatly appreciate his authenticity and credible love for the poor. He visited the refugee island of Lampedusa and kissed people marked by illness." Freitag assures us that his thoughts and prayers are with the sick.

Wilhelm Krautwaschl, in turn, was consecrated diocesan bishop of Graz under Francis and feels very close to him, as he emphasizes: "Because of his messages and priorities, because of his commitment to the poorest and to the environment, because of the encounters with him. And above all because of his intimate relationship with God and his way of following Jesus, which he pursues unwaveringly." The Styrian head of the Church prays in these difficult hours "that the Pope will be accompanied by God right now."