Prayer vigil day and night for his recovery. Chinese Catholics also praying for the cardinal
Manila (AsiaNews) -- Cardinal Sin is breathing on his own and his condition has improved. Yesterday evening at 6:30 (local time) doctors removed the elderly archbishop's respirator. "The cardinal can talk already; we celebrated mass and he received Holy Communion," said Father Rufino Sescon, Cardinal Sin's secretary. "He is much better today. He even managed to smile despite the respirator which had been irritating him from the start." It is still not known how much longer the cardinal will have to stay in the Cardinal Santos Medical Centre, where he had been admitted Monday following a drop in blood pressure.
Nuns and laypeople have been praying for the Cardinal's speedy recovery round the clock in the hospital's chapel. "The Archdiocese of Manila, through Archbishop Gaudencio Rosales, thanks all those who have sent their good wishes and are praying for His Eminence, and encourages them to continue praying for the Cardinal," Father Sescon said.
Even in China, Catholics are concerned about Cardinal Sin, who is of Chinese origin, and are praying for him. "He is an important figure in relations between China and the Vatican, very much loved and admired by Chinese Catholics," sources told AsiaNews.
Many Chinese Catholics remember Cardinal Sin well and have not forgotten what he has done for the Chinese Church. In particular, in 1985 Sin met with the Archbishop of Shanghai (later cardinal) Gong Pigmei, who declared his faithfulness to the pope, and did so also on behalf of Chinese Catholics. In 1987, during a visit to Beijing, Sin met with Prime Minister Zhao Ziyang.
In 1995, it was again Cardinal Sin who invited the young people of the official Chinese Church to Manila to participate in World Youth Day with the pope. Many of those young people still remember Cardinal Sin as "a just man". Cardinal Jaime Lachica Sin (14th of 16 children) was born in 1928; he was ordained to the priesthood in 1954, received episcopal consecration in 1967, and became cardinal in 1976, at the age of 47. In 2003, at the age of 75, he retired as archbishop of Manila.