Pope Francis' 6th Surprise Mercy Visit: Elderly and Suffering Priests

Pope Francis greeting ill priests at a center in Rome.
Pope Francis greeting ill priests at a center in Rome. (photo: Rome Reports)

Pope Francis made his sixth “Mercy Friday” visit last week when he greeted elderly and infirm priests in two communities in the diocese of Rome.

The Holy Father left the Vatican at 4 p.m. June 17 to visit first the Monte Tabor community, home to eight priests formerly from different dioceses, suffering from various forms of illness.

Accompanying the priests is a permanent deacon, Ermes Luparia, a former Italian Air Force colonel who is now a specialist in psychology and has dedicated himself to the service of companionship in the spirit of the Salvatorian Fathers. The Pope met with the priests in the chapel, listened to them and prayed with them, the Vatican said in a statement.

It also made the point that the priests had devoted their life to the service of the Church and the faithful, now “live in a retreat”, and “few people remember them”.

“But the Pope does,” the Vatican said, adding that “by this visit he hoped to show this to each one of them, with his concrete affection.”

The Pope, the Vatican said, “once more gave an effective example of mercy, attention and gratitude to all the community of Rome and the Church. The Jubilee consists, to a great extent, of works of mercy both corporal and spiritual".

The Holy Father then went to a community of elderly priests in Rome, officially called "Casa San Gaetano," but is better known as "The hundred priests." Currently 21 retired priests live there, some of them very sick, assisted by three sisters and other staff. The home’s director, Father Antonio Antonelli, was pastor for many years and is also now very ill. Most of them are of diocesan priests, but also some religious.

Friday’s surprise mercy visit was the sixth to be carried out by Francis during the Jubilee: in January he visited the rest home for the elderly and infirm in a vegetative state; in February, a community for the rehabilitation of drug users in Castel Gandolfo; in March, on Holy Thursday, a reception centre for refugees (CARA) in Castelnuovo di Porto; in April, a refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesbos; and in May, the "Chicco" community for people with serious mental disabilities in Ciampino.

On two prior occasions this month, Francis expressed his closeness and care for those priests who were unable to participate physically in the jubilee celebrations but said they were always present in the Pope's prayers and heart.