Pope Francis has had a ‘peaceable night time’ in hospital Vatican publicizes after 88-year-old was revealed to be in a ‘important’ situation
Pope Francis had a ‘peaceful’ night in hospital, the Vatican has announced today.
No further update on the 88-year-old’s condition was given this morning who was revealed yesterday to be in a ‘critical’ condition after suffering a respiratory ‘crisis’.
Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni’s one-line statement did not mention if Francis was up or eating breakfast.
‘The night passed peacefully, the pope rested,’ the Holy See said in a short update.
The pope was admitted to Rome’s Gemelli hospital on February 14 after experiencing difficulty breathing for several days and subsequently had pneumonia diagnosed in both lungs.
On Saturday he suffered a prolonged asthmatic respiratory crisis while being treated for pneumonia and a complex lung infection.
The pope received ‘high flows’ of oxygen to help him breathe and also had blood transfusions for the first time.
Tests had shown that the pope had low counts of platelets, which are needed for clotting, the Vatican said in a late update.
Pope Francis (pictured on March 8, 2024) had a ‘peaceful’ night in hospital, the Vatican has announced today
Deacons arrive at the Vatican on Sunday, February 23, to take part in a mass for their jubilee in St. Peter’s Basilica that was supposed to be presided over by Pope Francis
The statement on Saturday also said that the pontiff ‘continues to be alert and spent the day in an armchair although in more pain than yesterday’.
Doctors said the prognosis was ‘reserved’.
Doctors have said Francis’ condition is touch and go, given his age, fragility and pre-existing lung disease, and that the main threat facing him is if the infection enters the bloodstream, a serious condition known as sepsis.
Double pneumonia is a serious infection that can inflame and scar both lungs, making it difficult to breathe.
The Vatican has described the pope’s infection as ‘complex’, saying it is being caused by two or more microorganisms.
Francis, who has been pope since 2013, has suffered bouts of ill health in the past two years. He is particularly prone to lung infections because he developed pleurisy as a young adult and had part of one lung removed.
The Vatican carried on with its Holy Year celebrations without the pope.
Doctors first diagnosed the complex viral, bacterial and fungal respiratory tract infection and then the onset of pneumonia in both lungs.
Church candles depicting Pope Francis and the late Saint Paul John II, are seen outside the Gemelli Hospital during a Rosary service, on February 22, 2025
Deacons wait on Sunday, February 23, 2025, to take part in a mass for their jubilee in St. Peter’s Basilica
Pope Francis gestures as he arrives for a weekly general audience at Paul-VI hall in the Vatican on January 22, 2025
Nuns pray during a Rosary service in front of the Gemelli hospital, on February 22, 2025 in Rome, Italy
Dr Sergio Alfieri (pictured), the head of medicine and surgery at Rome’s Gemelli hospital, said the biggest threat facing Francis was that some of the germs that are currently located in his respiratory system pass into the bloodstream, causing sepsis
They prescribed ‘absolute rest’ and a combination of cortisone and antibiotics, along with supplemental oxygen when he needs it.
Carbone, who along with Francis’ personal nurse Massimiliano Strappetti organized care for him at the Vatican, acknowledged he had insisted on staying at the Vatican to work, even after he was sick, ‘because of institutional and private commitments’.
He was cared for by a cardiologist and infectious specialist in addition to his personal medical team before being hospitalised.
Dr Sergio Alfieri, the head of medicine and surgery at Rome’s Gemelli hospital, said the biggest threat facing Francis was that some of the germs that are currently located in his respiratory system pass into the bloodstream, causing sepsis. Sepsis can lead to organ failure and death.
‘Sepsis, with his respiratory problems and his age, would be really difficult to get out of,’ Alfieri told a news conference on Friday at Gemelli.
‘The English say “knock on wood”, we say “touch iron”. Everyone touch what they want,’ he said as he tapped the microphone. ‘But this is the real risk in these cases: that these germs pass to the bloodstream.’
‘He knows he’s in danger,’ Alfieri added. ‘And he told us to relay that.’
Deacons, meanwhile, were gathering at the Vatican for their special Jubilee weekend. Francis got sick at the start of the Vatican’s Holy Year, the once-every-quarter-century celebration of Catholicism. This weekend, Francis was supposed to have celebrated deacons, a ministry in the church that precedes ordination to the priesthood.
Pope Francis arrives at the basilica of Saint John Lateran for a diocesan assembly, on October 25, 2024 in Rome
Candles, flowers, and pictures of Pope Francis are placed at the base of the statue of the late Pope John Paul II
In his place, the Holy Year organiser will celebrate Sunday’s Mass, the Vatican said. And for the second weekend in a row, Francis was expected to skip his traditional Sunday noon blessing, which he could have delivered from Gemelli if he were up to it.
‘Look, even though he’s not (physically) here, we know he’s here,’ said Luis Arnaldo Lopez Quirindongo, a deacon from Ponce, Puerto Rico who was at the Vatican on Saturday for the Jubilee celebration. ‘He’s recovering, but he’s in our hearts and is accompanying us because our prayers and his go together.’
Beyond that, doctors have said Francis’ recovery will take time and that regardless he will still have to live with his chronic respiratory problems back at the Vatican.
‘He has to get over this infection and we all hope he gets over it,’ said Alfieri. ‘But the fact is, all doors are open.’
