Candles with portraits of Pope Francis and Padre Pio are set on the backside of a statue of Pope John Paul II exterior the Gemelli hospital the place Pope Francis is hospitalized for assessments and remedy for bronchitis in Rome, on February 19, 2025. Pope Francis, who has been recognized with pneumonia in each lungs, handed a “peaceable evening”, the Vatican stated on February 19, 2025, amid rising considerations over the 88-year-old’s situation. (Picture by Tiziana FABI / AFP)
ROME (AP) — Pope Francis’ total medical situation is “bettering barely” and his coronary heart is working effectively as he battles pneumonia, the Vatican stated Thursday, as a few of his cardinals cheered him on and insisted that the Catholic Church was very a lot alive and effectively even in his absence.
In a late replace, Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni stated Francis has no fever and that his key coronary heart parameters “proceed to be steady.”
The 88-year-old pope was admitted to the hospital on Feb. 14 after a case of bronchitis worsened; docs later recognized the onset of pneumonia in each lungs on prime of asthmatic bronchitis and prescribed “absolute relaxation.”
“If you happen to really need him to relaxation, you must hospitalize him,” quipped Cardinal Jean-Marc Aveline, the archbishop of Marseille, France, referring to Francis’ work ethic.
Aveline was talking at a Vatican information convention a couple of Mediterranean youth peace initiative alongside his counterpart from Barcelona, Cardinal Juan Josè Omella. However given the restricted quantity of details about Francis’ situation, they have been peppered with questions concerning the pope’s well being and whether or not he would possibly resolve to resign if he doesn’t get better absolutely.
“Every part is feasible,” Aveline stated.
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Regardless, Omella insisted that the lifetime of the church continued even with Francis within the hospital.
“Popes change, we bishops change, clergymen in parishes change, communities change. However the practice continues being on the transfer,” Omella stated.
One other cardinal, Gianfranco Ravasi, had commented earlier within the day on the potential for resignation when requested if Francis would possibly resolve to comply with within the footsteps of Pope Benedict XVI and step down if he turns into too sick. Benedict grew to become the primary pope in 600 years to retire when he concluded in 2013 that he didn’t have the bodily energy to hold on the pains of the globe-trotting papacy.
“There isn’t any query that if he (Francis) was in a scenario the place his skill to have direct contact (with folks) as he likes to do … was compromised, then I believe he would possibly resolve to resign,” Ravasi was quoted as telling RTL 102.5 radio.
Francis has already confirmed that shortly after being elected pontiff he wrote a resignation letter in case medical issues impeded him from finishing up his duties. There isn’t any provision in canon regulation for what to do if a pope turns into incapacitated.
There isn’t any indication Francis is in anyway incapacitated. Bruni stated he awoke Thursday, received off the bed and had breakfast in an armchair, and labored from his hospital room together with his aides. Blood assessments have confirmed a “slight enchancment” in some irritation indices however it’ll nonetheless be a while earlier than docs will know if the assorted therapies are working.
The pope had an acute case of pneumonia in 2023 and is vulnerable to respiratory infections in winter.
Medical doctors say pneumonia in such a fragile, aged affected person makes him significantly vulnerable to problems given the problem in having the ability to successfully expel fluid from his lungs. Whereas his coronary heart is powerful, Francis isn’t a very wholesome 88-year-old. He’s chubby, isn’t bodily energetic, makes use of a wheelchair due to dangerous knees, had a part of one lung eliminated as a younger man, and has admitted to being a not-terribly-cooperative affected person prior to now.
Archbishop Giuseppe Satriano of Bari stated he was unhappy that Francis was sick and that rumors about his situation have been circulating, however assured he would get better. He recalled that Francis proved the naysayers fallacious when he accomplished a gruelling four-nation journey to Asia in September.
“Even in the course of the lengthy journey in Asia, the Swiss Guards and gendarmes got here again extra drained than he, and all of us feared he’d come again destroyed,” Satriano stated. “However he’s a fighter, so I believe he’ll win this battle.”
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