The many labours of the Pope who never rests

12 thousand personal interviews after his morning masses in St. Martha’s House and not one day off. The Pope’s alarm clock goes off at 4:45 am and he only has one half hour nap a day. No wonder his body rebels now and again and he has to cancel certain events

When priests told him to take a break and go on holiday, Milan’s Cardinal Alfredo Ildefonso Schuster smiled and answered that there would be all the time in the world to do that once he was in heaven. Francis – the Jesuit Pope whose hectic schedule would put even a 40 year old man to shame – seems to be following in his footsteps despite his age (he is 77) which sometimes leads him to have to call off a meeting or two. This was the case with his visit to the “Agostino Gemelli” hospital in Rome, Friday.

“Speaking to Italian newspaper La Stampa and Vatican Insider, the Vatican spokesman, Fr. Federico Lombardi explained that the Pope “decides his own agenda and leads a very intense life because he feels he is called to serve the Lord with all his strength. He never took time off even when he was Archbishop of Buenos Aires.” Francis doesn’t even stop on a Tuesday, the traditional day of papal rest when his predecessors usually had no audiences or other important commitments. Instead of making the most of this morning to rest, he uses it to catch up on meetings that have been put on hold. “Francis follows the lifestyle of St. Ignatius, who in the order’s constitutions defined the Jesuits as “labourers in the Lord’s vineyard” so he dedicates himself entirely to his mission, even going beyond the limits of his own strength,” Fr. Lombardi said.

Over the past hundred years, papal agendas have become more and more packed; they have more commitments, more public events to attend and more speeches to give. A quick look at the statistics confirms this. The Pope’s daily morning mass in St. Martha’s House, which is attended by about 60 people, is something completely new. Although his predecessors also said daily mass in the private chapel of the papal apartment, they did not give a sermon and the masses were not broadcast by Vatican Radio or filmed. Practically no one would have been able to tell whether they were unwell, feverish or late to a meeting or event. From March 2013 to the present day, Francis has celebrated 229 masses with as many homilies given off the cuff and every time he has stopped to personally greet each of the faithful present: that means he has greeted at least twelve thousand people at these morning masses alone. The Pope has led 95 big liturgical celebrations in Rome or on his visits outside Rome. On these occasions he gave a total of 73 homilies.

Since March 2013, Francis has written one encyclical (Lumen Fidei) and an Apostolic Exhortation (“Evangelii Gaudium”), three apostolic letters, four motu proprios and 45 official letters. He has pronounced or sent 55 messages (including a number of video messages). Since he was elected Pope, Francis has given 231 speeches, plus the 73 addresses he has given before the Angelus. Although it is widely known that Francis has collaborators who help him prepare the texts for his speeches, they still follow his instructions and this obviously takes up some of his time.
Another new element of this pontificate are the Wednesday audiences. Francis has held 54 of them so far. According to estimates given by the Prefecture of the Papal Household, over six million people attend the Angelus and the General Audiences. The current Pope spends a lot more time with the faithful in St. Peter’s Square that his predecessors. He goes up and down the square in the Popemobile, to greet everyone and get close to those who are further away. Given the size of these events, they have been held in the square, even in winter. All of Francis’ outdoor General Audiences put together have lasted as many as 150 hours in total. And they have gone ahead regardless of the weather conditions. Sometimes the Pope has even attended when he has been unwell.

It is impossible to calculate exactly how many people the Pope has received individually in audience and the number of sick the Pope has met with. The amount of private correspondence the Pope receives has also increased notably. He personally reads about fifty of the four thousand letters he receives each week and gives instructions for the responses. In some cases he replies personally to phone calls.

Then there are his travels. Two abroad (to Brazil and the Holy Land) and four within Italy. Not to mention his five visits to Roman parishes. Here two Francis has introduced a new style: his visits to Roman parishes take place on a Sunday afternoon and he spends several hours with faithful.

When he is in the Vatican, the Pope wakes up at 4:45 am and dresses himself. The first thing he does is to read the “ciphers” he receives from Nunciatures all around the world; he then prays for over an hour and meditates the Scriptures of the day, preparing his homily for the mass in St. Martha’s House. At 7 he goes, unaccompanied as always, to celebrate mass, after which he greets each of those present and has breakfast. Then his working morning begins, with audiences and meetings. At 1 pm he has lunch, followed by a half an hour nap. In the afternoon he prays and resumes his meeting schedule, deals with his correspondence and makes telephone calls. At the end of the day, before dinner at 8 pm, he usually spends an hour of worship in the chapel.

“Sometimes you can’t do everything,” Francis admitted to a groups of seminarists. “I sometimes let myself get carried away with certain things and this is not wise: too much work, or thinking that if I don’t do something today I won’t do it tomorrow… then I don’t have time for worship, I don’t have time for a nap…” The ideal thing is to end the day feeling tired. You don’t need to take pills: end your day tired. But let this be a good tiredness, not imprudent tiredness, because this is bad for your health and the price you pay is high in the long run. This would be ideal, but I don’t always do it because I am a sinner too and I am not always that organised,” he admitted.

Francis describes himself not as a superman but as a “sinner”, who feels exhausted at the end of the day and is forced now and again to cancel some of his commitments.