Pope Francis remained in a stable state and did not need mechanical ventilation on Sunday, said the Vatican. It was a sign that he had overcome the possible complications of a respiratory crisis on Friday and that his overall breathing function improved while he recovered the double pneumonia.
The 88 -year -old pope continued to receive additional high -speed oxygen after Friday cough episode, which sparked fears of a new pulmonary infection. The doctors of their end of Sunday update said that Francis had remained stable, but again referred to the complexity of his global state and kept his prognosis at Goted, which means that he was not out of danger.
Francis, who has been at the hospital since February 14, rested, prayed in his private chapel and participated in mass for the rest of the day after having a visit to the morning of the Secretary of State of the Vatican, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, and his chief of staff, the Archbishop Edgar Pena Parra. The content of their talks was not known, but even in the Vatican, Francis meets at least every week with them.
He again jumped his weekly midday blessing to even avoid a brief public appearance of the hospital. Instead, the Vatican distributed a message written by the Pope of the Gemelli hospital in which he thanked his doctors for their care and their sympathizers for their prayers, and again prayed for peace in Ukraine and elsewhere.
“From there, the war seems even more absurd,” said Francis in the message, whom he has drafted in recent days. Francis said that he lived his hospitalization as a deep solidarity experience with sick people and suffering everywhere.
“I feel in my heart the” blessing “which is hidden in fragility, because it is precisely in these moments that we learn even more to trust the Lord,” said Francis in the text. “At the same time, I thank God for having given me the opportunity to share in the body and the spirit of the condition of so many sick and suffering.”
The panels indicate a recovery
Many signs have indicated that he improved, especially after a respiratory crisis on Friday afternoon, which led him to inhale vomiting during a cough adjustment and to increase the possibility of a new infection. Doctors have sucked vomit and put it in non -invasive mechanical ventilation, a mask that pumps oxygen in the lungs.
He used ventilation on Saturday, alternating it with just additional oxygen, and Sunday no longer needed it.
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Doctors also pointed out that he had no fever or increased white blood cell levels, which would have indicated that his body was fighting a new infection. Doctors said they needed 24 to 48 hours after Friday cough episode to determine if there had been negative impacts on Francis’ overall state. The passage of time and positive reports on Sunday suggested that he had successfully overcome the episode.
The pope, who had a part of a lung removed as a young man, has a lung disease and was admitted to Gemelli on February 14 after bronchitis worsened and turned into complex pneumonia in the two lungs.
Prayers continued to flock
The hospitalization of Francis came while the Vatican marks his holy year, attracting pilgrims in Rome everywhere. Many have added a pilgrimage destination to their routes so that they can pray for François at the Gemelli hospital, which is about 20 minutes by car from the Vatican, longer at peak time or on public transport.
The Reverend Riccardo Fumagalli had accompanied a group of young people from Milan in Rome for the jubilee and allegedly attended the Angelus prayer of Francis on Saint-Pierre square on Sunday if he had delivered it as usual. Instead, they went to Gemelli.
“It seemed good to come here to express our proximity, especially these teenagers, to be close to the Holy Father to pray for him, to pray for this moment of illness,” he said.
The cancer patient Antonino Caccace also arrived in Milan Gemelli on Sunday for her own treatment, saying that he had to undergo surgery in the coming days and counted on the prayers of Francis.
“I’m glad the pope gives me help,” he said. “I am on the ninth (floor) and it is on the 10th (floor). I hope to meet him and see him, “he said.
& Copy 2025 the Canadian press