week and considering his state of health, i mean, i think really, the real issue for the pope is his mobility problem that he s not moving around. and so you know, that can bring a whole host of other issues for him and has been like that for some time. he says. he doesn t want to have an operation on his knee. he wasn t happy with the anesthetic for his last operation, so he s just getting by. he s up to the challenge. it s been a challenging week, but he s getting through it. we ll see him tomorrow as well. in st peter s square, right? yeah and seemingly maintaining his sense of humor, as he did with you and your chat with him last week, delia gallagher, thanks so much happy easter. alright this week on searching for mexico, longoria continues her culinary adventure in oaxaca , where indigenous traditions and modern innovations create some of the country s most incredible food wonders. here s a preview we have our money place here. look at this. that
week for christians around the world, leila very important week indeed. w what can we expect in the coming days? so today we have the palm sunday mass. then the pope hopefully will have two or three days. but remember, he s still got all of his vatican meetings his audience on wednesday as a lot of public events, but don t forget also the private events. the pope constantly throughout the day has a whole series of people that he meets from politicians to other religious figures. so he s gonna we ll see if he keeps up that schedule and then he has his public events on thursday. there s a mass in the morning. there s the evening mass at at the jew. juvenile jail as i mentioned, and then the friday evening stations of the cross. saturday evening, mass sunday mass. so he s 86 years old. i mean, a pope s schedule is tough at any time, but certainly when you re recovering from bronchitis, and you have an important mobility problem with your knee, uh, that really makes
me on the top floor there, there s about five windows that are shuttered down with white shutters. those are the people rooms at the gemelli hospital, as many and the vatican also told us that he had breakfast this morning he was able to read the newspapers. and indeed do some work, so obviously giving a sense of reassurance, especially considering the uncertainty. alex of yesterday s news with the problems that they said the pope had been complaining about not being able to breathe. now the pope is 86 years old. he also has a history of respiratory issue when he was 21 , part of his lung was taken out for respiratory illness. so he is particularly vulnerable to this situation. we also know he has other health issues mobility problem with his knee. he was here in the summer of 2020 21 for 10 days to have surgery for diverticulitis, and they had to remove some of his colon. hopefully his stay this time won t be that long. alex. there s easter week coming up.
kinshasa on tuesday night for a vigil ahead of the mass. we got this update a little earlier. it is a huge crowd that has turned out here for this papal mass at kinch as airport to see the pope. you can see the schoolgirls in a row here, they have been dancing for may be the last couple of hours to welcome the pope and throughout this mass. let me give you a sense of the sheer numbers. if you take a look back there, it is estimated that about 1.5 million people have come out here, in what is the sixth most populous catholic nation in the world. the sixth highest number of catholics in anywhere in the world. the pope has said that democratic republic of the congo and africa has a very special place in his heart and even though he has mobility problem that led to him cancelling this visit a year ago, it was clear it was on his priority list to come back. he has already given one speech since he s been here, when he
they are ill, so one wonders about the significance of that. all right, thank you very much, stephen bates, for being with us. ijust want to read out a message that we ve from the archbishop of canterbury, who says, my prayer is that the prayers of people across the church of england and the nation are with her majesty the queen today. this is justin welby, the archbishop of canterbury, in a message that s just been released. may god s present strength and comfort her majesty, her family and those who are caring for her at balmoral. well, we can talk now to the former bbc royal correspondent richard sumner, who joins us on the line. richard, thank you very much for being with us. i am sure you are as concerned as everybody else by this statement from the palace? everybody else by this statement from the palace? yes, because the whole politics from the palace? yes, because the whole politics of from the palace? yes, because the whole politics of the from the palace? yes, because