Pope Francis had peaceful night after respiratory crisis, the Vatican says
The Vatican said on Sunday that Pope Francis, who is in critical condition with a complicated lung infection, slept well during a calm night, but given his age, fragility, and pre-existing lung disease, everything is still up in the air.
In a brief statement released early Sunday, Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni did not specify whether Francis was eating breakfast or getting out of bed. “The night passed quietly, the pope rested.”
The brief update was given just hours after medical professionals declared the 88-year-old pope, who had a lung removed when he was younger, to be critically ill following a protracted asthmatic respiratory crisis.
Francis has been hospitalized for a week while being treated for pneumonia and a complex lung infection. He was admitted to Rome’s Gemelli hospital on Feb. 14 after a weeklong bout of bronchitis worsened.
On Saturday, the pope received “high flows” of oxygen to help him breathe as well as blood transfusions after tests showed low counts of platelets, which are needed for clotting, the Vatican said in a late update.
The Saturday statement also said 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.”
“We feel Pope Francis close to us”
Francis was supposed to have celebrated Mass on Sunday morning in St. Peter’s Basilica and ordained hundreds of deacons as part of the Vatican’s yearlong Holy Year commemoration.
The organizer of the Holy Year, Archbishop Rino Fisichella, celebrated the Mass in his place and offered a special prayer for Francis from the altar before delivering the homily the pope had prepared.
Even though he is in a hospital bed, we feel Pope Francis close to us, we feel him present among us,” Fisichella told the hundreds of white-robed deacons. “And this compels us to make even stronger and more intense our prayer that the Lord will assist him in his time of trial and illness.
The Deacons Jubilee, a day of the Holy Year dedicated to deacons, will attract over 6,000 pilgrims from about 100 countries to Rome.