Francis' condition remains critical Argentinian activist wants to enter the Pope's hospital room

The seriously ill Pope Francis has been in a clinic in Rome for a week and a half. The wing on the tenth floor is tightly secured. An activist wants to go in anyway.

DPA

25.02.2025, 06:01

25.02.2025, 06:09

dpa

A left-wing activist from Argentina has attempted to enter Pope Francis ' hospital room at the Gemelli Hospital in Rome. The trade unionist Juan Grabois was stopped by security forces, as reported by the Italian news agency Ansa.

Grabois denied the accusation to the Argentinian newspaper "La Nación". "It's ridiculous, it's not true," he told the paper. "I went through the door of the hospital like everyone else, I went to sector F on the first floor where there were already some gendarmes, one of them even recognized me, we greeted each other and I left him a handwritten letter to give to the Pope." It had never occurred to him to go up to the tenth floor, where the papal suite is located.

Francis, who according to the Vatican is suffering from severe pneumonia, is himself from Argentina. The 88-year-old head of the Catholic Church has been receiving treatment at the university hospital in the west of Rome for a week and a half. He is lying there in a strictly secured wing on the tenth floor. The doctors describe his condition as critical. Only his closest collaborators are allowed to see him.

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Working as a consultant for a Vatican authority

According to the report, Grabois also works as a consultant for a Vatican authority and has met the Pope several times. He last met him in September last year at an event for members of social movements. In his native Argentina, the 41-year-old is best known as the leader of a trade union for day laborers and a left-wing politician.