Pope Francis was in critical condition on Saturday night, having had a long “asthmatic respiratory crisis” earlier on the day that required “high oxygen flows” as well as blood transfusion, the Vatican said, adding concerns about his 88th health. .
The announcement said Francis’s medical condition had become more complicated, as an information from his doctors on Friday night, when it was also said to be in critical condition.
“The Pope is not at risk,” the Vatican said on Saturday night.
As the Pope’s Hospital Eve enters a second week, the questions have increased as to whether Francis – the spiritual leader of almost 1.4 billion Roman Catholics – will recover, pass or manages to fight his infection but to It is of course emerging.
The damage to his lungs has already been years, and in recent days some cardinals have spoken openly about the possibility of resigning from Francis, as the Benedict XVI predecessor did in 2013.
A death or resignation would have caused a conference of the Cardinals of the Church, who will elect a successor.
In an interview with Milan Daily Corriere della Sera on Saturday, Pope Francis Foreign Minister Cardinal Pietro Parolin spoke of “useless speculations”. The only thing that mattered, he said, was “the health of the Holy Father, his recovery, his return to the Vatican”.
Francis was hospitalized on February 14th with an infection of the respiratory system that developed into pneumonia in both lungs. As a young man, Francis had been removed from a lung.
But the Vatican said on Saturday that Francis was skeptical and was sitting in an armchair, “though he was more pain than yesterday”.
Blood transfusion was necessary because the tests showed low platelet measurements associated with anemia, the Vatican said.
On Friday, doctors told him that Francis was in critical condition and would remain in the hospital for at least another week.
The surgio Alfieri surgeon said the Pope understood the risk of death at his age and said: “All the doors were open.”
Speaking to reporters gathered at Policlinico Agostino Gemelli, the hospital where Francis is treated, Dr Alfieri had described the difficulties faced by the Pope’s Medical Team to calibrate the right treatment for Pontiff, who has pneumonia and pneumonia infection.
The Pope’s doctor in the Vatican, Luigi Carbone, said that, as in the case of any fragile patient, it would take very little to “become unbalanced”.
Doctors said Francis used intermittent oxygen.
This is the fourth time that Francis has stayed at Gemelli Hospital. In 2021, she had surgery in the large intestine there. In 2023, it was accepted for a respiratory infection, but went home after three days. He was hospitalized again a few months later to undergo abdominal surgery for a hernia.
Dr. Alfieri, who performed both abdominal surgeries, said on Friday that when he came to these medical conditions, Francis was okay. The Pope’s heart was strong, he added.
In recent years the Pope has been prone to times of flu and bronchitis during the cold winter months. Due to knee and sciatica problems, it often uses a wheelchair, walker or cane.
