Pope’s condition ‘slightly improving’ on seventh day in hospital

VATICAN CITY - The Vatican reported another slight improvement in Pope Francis’ condition on Feb 20, as the 88-year-old spent his seventh day in hospital being treated for double pneumonia.

The Argentine pontiff was admitted to Rome’s Gemelli hospital on Feb 14 with bronchitis, but it later developed into

pneumonia in both lungs,

sparking widespread alarm.

“The clinical conditions of the Holy Father are slightly improving,” the Vatican said, in its regular early evening update on Feb 20.

“He is apyretic (without fever) and his hemodynamic (blood flow) parameters continue to be stable.

“This morning, he received the Eucharist and subsequently devoted himself to his work activities.”

The Vatican had a similar message on the evening of Feb 19, when it said blood tests had also shown a “slight improvement”.

Cardinal Matteo Maria Zuppi, head of Italy’s bishops conference, had earlier said the pontiff was “on the right path”.

“We are all worried about the Pope,” Cardinal Zuppi, who has not visited Francis, told reporters.

“The fact that the pope had breakfast, read the newspapers, received people, means that we are on the right path to a full recovery, which we hope will happen soon”.

Angelus uncertain

On Feb 20 morning, the Vatican said Pope Francis had spent

a peaceful night in hospital,

“got up and had breakfast in his armchair”.

Vatican sources said that despite his illness, the Jesuit was still trying to work, reading and signing documents, writing, speaking with colleagues and keeping up with the news.

Pope Francis had enough energy on Feb 19 to

receive Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni for a 20-minute visit

at the Gemelli’s special papal suite.

She later described him as “alert and responsive”, saying in a statement: “We joked as always. He hasn’t lost his proverbial sense of humour.”

The Pope has already cancelled his appointments on his calendar this week, including a Feb 22 audience and a Feb 23 mass at St Peter’s Basilica.

But it was still not clear whether he would give the traditional Angelus prayer at midday on Feb 23.

Pope Francis missed it on Feb 16, but has delivered it from the Gemelli balcony during his previous spells at the hospital.

“We still don’t know how it will work,” said Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni.

Heart ‘holding up’

The double-pneumonia diagnosis for the Pope comes after a series of health issues in recent years: from colon and hernia surgery to problems walking and pain in his hip and knee.

The Vatican has been issuing regular updates, however banal, in a bid to counter widespread speculation – particularly online – that he is dying or even dead.

A Vatican source had also on Feb 19 said the pontiff was “breathing on his own. His heart is holding up very well”.

The Pope, who has been head of the Catholic Church since 2013, keeps a full schedule despite his age and ailments, and this year is busy with celebrations of the holy Jubilee year.

But in the days before his hospital admission, he was struggling to read his homilies.

The pontiff – whose birth name is Jorge Bergoglio – had part of his right lung cut away when he was 21, after developing pleurisy that almost killed him.

In St Peter’s Square on Feb 20, Romanian tourist Suzanna Munteanu told AFP she worried over Francis’ health but was “confident that he will make it”.

“I love this Pope... Pope Bergoglio, very much, and he’s very dear to me, especially that he cares for the poor people, and I do hope he will recover very soon,” she added.

‘Uncertainty’

The Pope has left open the option of resigning were he to become unable to carry out his duties, as his predecessor Benedict XVI did.

And while he has insisted recently that quitting is only a “distant possibility”, his hospitalisation again revives questions about his ability to fulfil his role.

Mr Francois Mabille, a researcher at French think-tank IRIS and director of the Geopolitical Observatory of Religion, said this could be damaging.

“We have a Pope who is both sick, suffering, but who is alive, who can speak,” he told AFP.

“There is an uncertainty that weakens the Pope and the Holy See.” AFP