Pope Francis is in a “stable state” and has not made a new episode of respiratory failure according to the Vatican. However, his health is not reassuring with an essential respiratory aid and new crises that may arise.
The essentials:
- The hospitalization of Pope Francis continues and his state of health does not improve. The sovereign pontiff was admitted to the Gemilli Hospital in Rome on February 14 after a bilateral polymicrobial pulmonary infection which was added to chronic bronchitis.
- Pope Francis’s state of health is “stable” according to the latest news from the Vatican, but the 88 -year -old man remains in a “complex” situation with a “reserved prognosis”. He has already made four episodes of respiratory failure, including two consecutive on Monday, March 3. Crises that may reproduce and which could worsen the state of the Holy Father.
- Pope Francis, whose lungs and bronchi are affected, is constantly assisted by respiratory aid. It is placed under high speed oxygen therapy during the day and under non -invasive mechanical ventilation at night. The sovereign pontiff also follows respiratory and motor physiotherapy.
- The stationary state of Pope Francis is not a new so reassuring, since an improvement in his health could be hoped after three weeks of hospitalization. However, the Vatican assures that the Holy Father remains “early”, “always alert and cooperative in therapy”.
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11:52 – Pope Francis under respiratory physiotherapy
In addition to respiratory assistance, Pope Francis has respiratory physiotherapy. It is a rehabilitation exercise carried out with a physiotherapist to find the ability to breathe by yourself, enough and better. The goal is, ultimately, to do without heavier devices such as oxygen therapy and mechanical ventilation. The sovereign pontiff also receives motor physiotherapy according to the Vatican.
11:01 – essential respiratory assistance for Pope Francis
Affected by pneumonia and chronic bronchitis, Pope Francis has difficulty oxygenating himself. Which were aggravated with episodes of respiratory failure caused by the obstruction of the bronchi and respiratory tract. Since the beginning of the week, the sovereign pontiff has been constantly attending a device to help him breathe: he receives “high speed oxygen therapy during the day and non -invasive mechanical ventilation [est] Resumption during the night, “said the Vatican in his latest press release on Thursday morning.
03/05/25 – 19:48 – Pope’s health “stationary”
In his latest bulletin of the day, published in the early evening this Wednesday, the Vatican claims that the Pope’s state of health remained “stationary” on March 5. Like the day before, no new respiratory crisis. The sovereign pontiff, however, benefited from “high -speed oxygen therapy” during the day and will again be placed under “non -invasive mechanical ventilation” that night. Despite its stationary state, its prognosis remains, however, still “reserved”.
05/03/25 – 17:56 – “There are ups and downs,” said Cardinal Edoardo Menichelli.
Pope Francis’s state of health continues to worry, but some cardinals call for hope like Cardinal Edoardo Menichelli. “It is obvious that during an illness, there are ups and downs. However, without entering into interpretations which do not fall under our responsibility, and which rather fall under doctors, I believe that at the moment it is important that everyone has shown tenderness and prayer for the Holy Father, so that the Lord has the aid and that his will to be fulfilled,” he told Corriere Della will be.
Whoever is national ecclesiastical assistant of the association of Italian Catholic Doctors and has a long proximity experience with the patients in hospitals estimates that Pope Francis by communicating on his free state “testimony of weakness, very important illness”. “The Holy Father was not afraid to show his weaknesses. In doing so, he shows us that life is beautiful in itself: whatever the appearance in the eyes of others, at a time that celebrates everything that is effective, it has in it a sacred character to which no one can touch. And he has a gesture of love towards people who suffer, the elderly, the single people.
03/05/25 – 16:03 – Pope Francis suffered bronchoscopies
The latest respiratory insufficiency crises of the Pope required bronchoscopy to suck the mucus obstructing the respiratory tract. The maneuver consists in locally anesthetize the patient’s nose, mouth and throat to introduce, through the nose or mouth, a tube less than 4 millimeters in diameter and bring it down into the bronchi. The exam generally lasts about fifteen minutes and does not prevent the patient from breathing, the discomfort is not reduced the anesthetic products. If bronchoscopy is an invasive examination, it is very certain and does not cause complications in more than 95% of cases.
03/05/25 – 14:29 – Pope Francis’s pulmonary infection does not seem to spread
If the pulmonary infection of Pope Francis is still present, the Vatican indicates that the latter does not spread. The Holy See insists on the absence of fever which would suggest a proliferation or worsening of the infection and it ensures that “the general clinical picture is also stable with regard to the heart, kidneys and blood values”. If the evil only affects the lungs, it is substantial and “the general situation remains complex”.
03/05/25 – 12:54 – New episodes of possible respiratory failure
Pope Francis has had four respiratory failure crisis since his hospitalization: the first in the first week in the hospital, the second last Friday and the last two on Monday, March 3. It is necessary to prevent new crises from occurring, because each can cause complications. For the time being, no crisis seems to have the cause of damage to the health of the Sovereign Pontiff. Doctors are however cautious because of future crises can still arise.
05/03/25 – 11:32 – Pope Francis constantly under respiratory aid in the hospital
The evil from which Pope Francis suffers affects the lungs and respiratory tract – it is a bilateral pneumonia which was added to chronic bronchitis which follows the sovereign pontiff for a few years precise Corriere della will be. The symptoms of these diseases, including the cluster of endobronchial mucus, can prevent breathing and oxygenation, in fact Pope Francis is constantly placed in respiratory aid since his first crises. “During the day, it is subject to high speed oxygen therapy, ventilation by nasal plates which represents a level lower than mechanical ventilation at night,” says the Italian newspaper. However, the Holy Father has never been intubated since its hospitalization. Respiratory physiotherapy and rehabilitation desecices to allow the Pope to oxygen more efficiently and sufficiently alone are prescribed.
03/05/25 – 10:59 am – No new crises, but no reassuring news either
After the two episodes of acute respiratory failure occurred on Monday, Pope Francis did not have a new crisis on Tuesday according to the latest news from the Vatican. The clinical state of the sovereign pontiff has “remained stable” and the 88 -year -old man “alternated prayer and rest” on the whole day. The Holy See continues to give reassuring news indicating that the Pope remains “Apyretic (is not feverish, editor’s note), always alert, cooperative to therapy” and alert. The fact remains that the prognosis always appears to be “reserved” and that stability, without sign of improvement after three weeks of hospitalization is not a reassuring situation for the health of Pope Francis.
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“The Pope slept well overnight and rests,” said the Holy See in a brief press release this Thursday, February 27. The sovereign pontiff is now in a “stable” state, and his “reserved” vital prognosis. “On Wednesday evening, the latest health bulletin explained that the scanner passed by François showed a normal development of pulmonary inflammation and good blood tests. In the afternoon of Wednesday, February 26, François also continued his professional activities. The prognosis remains reserved according to doctors,” said the press release.
At the end of last week, “the complexity of the clinical picture and the necessary wait for pharmacological therapies to take effect to remain reserved on the prognosis,” said his health bulletin. In addition, some examinations showed an initial renal failure, certainly light, but well present. If doctors indicate that this relatively disturbing aspect of his health remains “under control”, the accumulation of pathologies revealed in Pope Francis does not bode well, moreover at an advanced age.
Pope Francis has been hospitalized for more than two weeks, but he has been sick for longer. What has been announced as bronchitis has become pneumonia affecting the two lungs. In detail, the Vatican indicates that “polymicrobial infection, which has declared itself against the backdrop of bronchitasis and asthmatic bronchitis, and which required the use of antibiotic therapy based on cortisone, makes therapeutic treatment more complex”. On Saturday February 22, the Pope was also the victim of an breathing asthmatic crisis. He then needed a broadband oxygen supply, as well as blood transfusion. “The state of the Holy Father remains critical and, as we explained yesterday, the Pope is not out of danger,” a statement from the Vatican said on Saturday evening.
Pope Francis’s fragile health
Caution remains in view of the fragile health of Pope Francis, 88 years old. Especially since a long hospitalization is not without risk as Margherita de Talle de Torrere sulra indicated on Wednesday: “The most dreaded danger is sepsis, the passage of microorganisms in the blood which propagate to other organs, with very serious consequences”. The Italian newspaper also revealed that the sovereign pontiff should observe two to three weeks of “absolute rest”. In France, the deputy editor-in-chief of the cross and former correspondent to the Vatican, Loup Besmond de Senneville, is also worried about the view of the communication of the Holy See on RTL: “If the Vatican evokes a worrying, complex clinical picture, with words that report real problems, it is clearly the most serious and most concern communications that we have ever seen on hospitalization of Pope Francis”.
In recent years, the octogenarian has multiplied hospitalizations and operations, some of which had been hidden by religious authorities before being revealed by Italian media. The health concerns of the Pope, who appeared, very weakened had then aroused great concern. After consecutive and rather important medical problems, between 2021 and 2023, Pope Francis seems to have escaped new big health problems in recent months. The new hospitalization of the Pope at the beginning of 2025 is worrying, the state of the Pope is to be monitored: in people over 75, acute bronchitis can justify increased medical surveillance, especially when symptoms and inflammation persist beyond 10 days.