Pope, hospitalized, calls for an end to conflicts worldwide in letter

Pope Francis, hospitalized in Rome for over four weeks with pneumonia, called for an end to armed conflicts in a letter written from his hospital room and published on Tuesday, AFP reports.

"We have to disarm words, to disarm minds and disarm the Earth. There is a great need for reflection, for calm, for a sense of complexity," the 88-year-old Argentine pontiff wrote to the editor of one of Italy's leading newspapers, Il Corriere della Sera, in a letter dated March 14.

"War seems even more absurd in moments of illness," added the pope, hospitalized since Feb. 14 at Rome's Gemelli hospital for double pneumonia.

"Human frailty has the power to make us more lucid in the face of what lasts and what passes, what makes us live and what makes us die," he said, stressing that weapons "devastate communities and the environment, without offering a solution to conflicts."

In the text, the Pope also launched an appeal to journalists, "to all those who devote their work and intelligence to inform", asking them to "grasp the full importance of words."

"They are never just words: they are facts that structure human environments. They can unite or divide, serve the truth or abuse it," he insists.

In turn, "religions can rely on the spirituality of peoples to rekindle the desire for fraternity and justice, the hope for peace," he concludes.

The Vatican rules out a resignation of the Pope

After a prolonged critical phase and multiple respiratory crises, Pope Francis' health has improved and remains stable, though he will remain hospitalized for an unspecified period, according to the Vatican.

In the hospital, Francis has worked when he could, while alternating rest with prayer.

However, despite his progress, speculation continues that he may step down because of his frailty, following in the footsteps of his predecessor, Benedict XVI.

Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, the Vatican's number two, said Monday night that at no time did he raise the question of a possible resignation of the pope from office when he visited him in the hospital.

When asked, Parolin replied flatly, "No, no, no, no, not at all."

"I saw him a week ago, I found him better than the first time," Italian Cardinal Pietro Parolin told reporters in Rome.