Vatican City, Feb 13, 2005 / 22:00 pm
Yesterday, the Holy Father made his first public appearance since being released from Rome’s Gemelli hospital. He appeared at the window of his private study to pray the Angelus with thousands of people gathered below in St Peter's Square.
Prior to the prayer, which the Pope had expressed wishes last week to preside at, Archbishop Leonardo Sandri, substitute of the Secretariat of State, read a text prepared by the Holy Father.
"I would like to thank you all," John Paul II wrote, "including those who are following us on radio and television, for your closeness, affection and, above all, your prayers during the days I spent in the Gemelli Polyclinic. I always feel the need for your help before the Lord, in order to carry out the mission that Jesus has entrusted to me."
After recalling the beginning of Lent with the imposition of ashes last Wednesday, the Pope affirmed that this liturgical time "reminds us of a fundamental truth: we do not enter eternal life without carrying our cross together with Christ. We do not achieve happiness and peace without courageously facing the interior struggle.”