by Robert McClory
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Chicago Cardinal Francis George said doctors have told him he appears to be free of cancer. He has been receiving chemotherapy since last September after doctors discovered cancerous cells in his liver and kidney. He expects to finish this treatment in early January.
The doctors "were quite surprised. It looked good," he told Manya Brachear of the Chicago Tribune in an interview. "But then they always say there are always things we can't see. But otherwise, they were very encouraged that they couldn't find any evidence of cancer where they found it before." He was operated on for bladder cancer six years ago, but he recuperated and was not forced to greatly cut down his activity.
George admitted he's had to trim his schedule because of this latest illness, and he expressed disappointment that fatigue has prevented him from writing a pastoral letter about Catholic customs, which, he said, can bind Catholics together despite disagreement in the pews about issues like gay marriage.
"The important thing is to keep us together as much as we possibly can so that people aren't hurt and that we have a just society," he said. "And not just a just society but a society that's loving in some fashion. ... It's not as if we're falling apart, but the challenges keep shifting."
Read the whole interview here.
