Pope Francis is once again suffering from the flu and therefore has problems speaking.
Nevertheless, the 87-year-old is not giving up public appearances and appointments in the Vatican.
Since the most recent illness became known on 24 February, he has received individuals and groups around 20 times - and these are only the meetings that the Vatican has officially announced.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) was also among the visitors.
There are also unofficial appointments, the lunchtime prayers in St Peter's Square and the general audiences that Francis holds despite being ill.
On several of these occasions, however, he did not speak the prepared texts himself. This was also the case on Wednesday, when the general audience took place outside St Peter's Basilica for the first time this year.
Like a fairy tale reader on children's radio
At a pre-spring-like twelve degrees, the Pope, wrapped in a white cloak, said apologetically: "Today's catechesis will be read by a monsignor, one of my assistants, because I still have a cold and can't read well."
A few metres away from Francis, the priest Pierluigi Giroli stepped up to a microphone and read out a text on the deadly sin of pride.
The 54-year-old with the bald head and the inconspicuous glasses barely looked up from the page.
Nevertheless, his audience was able to follow him well thanks to his calm tempo and pleasant bass voice, which was reminiscent of a fairy tale reader on children's radio.
Born in Milan, he used to run the Calvary pilgrimage centre in Domodossola in Piedmont.
There is a video on the internet from 2016 in which he speaks as a pilgrimage rector about a festival in honour of Blessed Antonio Rosmini.
Otherwise, there is hardly any information about Giroli.
The other "voices of the Pope" have not been in the spotlight either. That changed on 26 November.
At that time, Francis had a lung infection and - similar to the current situation - was unable to recite longer texts.
The Sunday midday prayer was moved to the chapel of the Vatican guest house Santa Marta and broadcast live due to the cool temperatures.
Francis and Prelate Paolo Braida, born in 1959, sat next to each other at a table.
The Italian often writes the speeches for the Pope.
"He knows these thoughts well, because he wrote them"
The head of the Church began by introducing his colleague with a wink, saying: "He knows these thoughts well, because he wrote them. He always does it very well."
The Pope then gave the prelate the floor.
Three days later - at the general audience on Wednesday - the younger and more telegenic Curia official Filippo Ciampanelli (cover photo) took over the role of reader.
The 45-year-old delivered the Pope's catechesis in a voice that was both firm and sensitive, with a northern Italian "R" that comes more from the throat. The dark-haired monsignor in the black cassock followed the manuscript to the letter - unlike Francis' usual style - and emphasised the words with his lively intonation.
Before moving to the Secretariat of State in 2015, Ciampanelli worked in the Vatican embassies in Georgia and Belarus.
His uncle Francesco - also a priest - may have awakened his passion for the universal church.
When he died in 2022, his nephew recalled the priest's life-threatening mission in Peru from the end of the 1980s at the funeral.
In a letter, his uncle described the dramatic situation on the ground. The terrorist guerrilla organisation "Shining Path" had already killed the mayor and the prefect.
"Now only the priest remains. Goodbye in paradise, if we don't see each other again before then," Ciampanelli quoted from the letter.
Former Becciu employee
In the Vatican, the nephew started in the "General Affairs" department - as a direct employee of Cardinal Angelo Becciu (75).
The sardinian made headlines in recent years as the main figure in a spectacular financial trial.
In December, the Vatican criminal court sentenced him to five and a half years in prison.
It is not known how Ciampanelli experienced the Becciu trial. Curia officials usually remain in the background.
At least as long as their boss is healthy.