Scottish Catholic Observer

Pope Francis visited a retired French cardinal in hospital in Rome after he injured himself at the Vatican yesterday.

Cardinal Roger Etchegaray, 93, was in a crowd of cardinals attending the closing Mass of the Synod of Family Life when he lost his balance and broke his left femur.

After the accident, Cardinal Etchegaray (above) was transferred to the Gemelli Hospital in Rome for surgery. His prognosis is said to be good.

Later that evening, Pope Francis visited the cardinal in hospital, where they had a ‘greatly cordial’ conversation with the Pope blessing the cardinal and the cardinal thanking him for chairing the synod.

Cardinal Etchegaray, who is the President Emeritus of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, was the Vatican’s special envoy who was involved in diplomatic situations in Vietnam and Rwanda. In 2003, he was assigned to persuade the Iraqi authorities to co-operate with the United Nations in order to avoid war.

This is not the first time that Cardinal Etchegara has been injured at the Vatican. During Christmas Eve Midnight Mass in 2009, the Cardinal sustained a broken leg and hip during an ensuing scuffle when a woman knocked down Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI.

Pope Francis warned against falling into a ‘scheduled faith’ and ‘ignoring what the Lord places before our eyes’ in his homily at the closing Mass for the synod yesterday.