The mystery of the bruise on the Pope’s neck

During the consistory for the election of new cardinals held this Saturday, Pope Francis had a mysterious bruise on his neck. On Friday it was covered by a dressing and was then attributed to a shaving cut. This Saturday, the bruise had spread and it became clear that it was not a cut but a bruise. The Vatican spokesman clarified late on Saturday that “the bruise is a consequence of a contusion on Friday morning, when he hit his chin on the nightstand.” Nothing worrying, they said from Casa Santa Marta.

The Pope was fine, he spoke with a tired voice, but he delivered the homily in its entirety and did not need to reduce the duration of the long ceremony or the structure of the ritual. In the morning he had had three meetings with cardinals and three meetings with pilgrims, one of them to inaugurate the Nativity scene and the Vatican Christmas tree.

The Pontiff warned the new cardinals that “too often secondary things take the place of what is necessary, exteriorities prevail over what really matters, we immerse ourselves in activities that we consider urgent, without reaching the heart.” “Instead, we always need to return to the center, recover the foundation, strip off what is superfluous to put on Christ,” he reminded them.

«The purple color of the cap that you receive means that you must be willing to behave firmly, willing to shed your blood, for the increase of the Christian faith, the peace and tranquility of the people of God and the freedom and diffusion of the Church holy and Roman,” he told them.