Cardinal Francis George ‘feeling better,’ released from hospital

Chicago’s Catholics got a Good Friday boost when Cardinal Francis George was released from hospital and allowed to return home.

George — who has cancer — was admitted on March 28 to Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood for dehydration and pain-management issues, both of which have since been successfully addressed, according to the Archdiocese of Chicago.

He is now “feeling much better,” the archdiocese said in a statement after George was released Friday.

“The Cardinal is deeply grateful to the doctors, nurses, and staff of Loyola University Hospital for the excellent care he received,” the archdiocese said.

“He is also very thankful to all those who prayed for him in a special way during his hospital stay, and asks for their continuing prayers, even as he promises his in return.”

George revealed last year that he was undergoing chemotherapy for cancer surrounding his right kidney, and that he expected the cancer would be the cause of his death. In January he said that his doctors have “run out of tricks in the bag” to treat the cancer. Last week it emerged that he would not be attending Easter services at Holy Name Cathedral.

He retired in November as archbishop of Chicago, and was succeeded by Archbishop Blase Cupich, who is due to lead Easter Mass at St. Julie Billiart Parish in Tinley Park on Sunday.

“We are putting it in the hands of God — as we all are in some fashion — and that will develop as it does,” George said in January. “This particular disease in my case has not been following the usual pattern in the past. It probably won’t follow the usual pattern in the future.”

George had radical surgery to remove his cancerous bladder, prostate and part of his right ureter in July 2006. He spent 19 days at Loyola University Medical Center and emerged cancer-free at the time.

But then, in March 2014, he revealed that the cancer had returned, this time to his kidney.