Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja
Pope Francis is still in critical condition but has not had any “further respiratory crisis,” the Vatican said yesterday, after the 88-year-old leader of the Catholic Church was reported Saturday to be in critical condition, following his week-long hospitalisation for a lung infection.
The Vatican reported earlier that Saturday “night passed quietly” and “the pope rested,” also saying Francis remains conscious and tests were still being conducted, Forbes reported.
Francis is still on supplemental oxygen and tests showed “initial, mild” kidney failure, the Vatican said, according to the AP, but doctors said the situation is under control and the pope is alert and “well-oriented.”
The pope’s “prognosis remains reserved,” the Vatican said, not making predictions on Francis’ potential recovery given “the complexity of the clinical picture, and the necessary wait for drug therapies to provide some feedback.”
Francis has also received blood transfusions following tests that indicated a condition associated with anemia, and doctors expect he will remain hospitalised through the next week.
The pope’s medical team previously said Friday his condition was not life-threatening, but that he is “not out of danger.”
The Vatican released an Angelus statement from Pope Francis on Sunday, in which the pope remarked on the upcoming third anniversary of the war in Ukraine and thanked the public for their messages of support about his hospital stay, asking people to “pray for me.”
“I am confidently continuing my hospitalisation at the Gemelli Hospital, carrying on with the necessary treatment; and rest is also part of the therapy!” Pope Francis said, as translated by The Vatican.
“I sincerely thank the doctors and health workers of this hospital for the attention they are showing me and the dedication with which they carry out their service among the sick,” he added.
The pope has pneumonia in both lungs, as well as bacterial, viral and fungal infections, according to his doctors. His doctors have given him supplemental oxygen when necessary, and they are treating him with a drug therapy they say Francis is responding to.
Doctors also prescribed Francis “absolute rest,” and several of his public events have been canceled. Doctors have said the primary threat to Francis’ health would be the onset of sepsis, a serious condition that could arise from pneumonia complications, though Francis has not shown signs of sepsis so far.
Francis, 88, has led the church as pope for 12 years since his election in 2013. Francis has been hospitalised several times in recent years, including one hospital stay in July 2021 for a narrowing of his large intestine, and another in 2023 for bronchitis. Francis has chronic bronchitis and a history of respiratory issues, the Forbes report said.
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