Pope Francis is still hospitalized this Thursday, February 20. If the Vatican has underlined a “slight improvement” of the sovereign pontiff’s health in recent hours, concern is still in order to contact a serious illness as a septicemia.
Pope Francis has been hospitalized for almost a week, 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 cortisone -based antibiotic therapy, makes therapeutic treatment more complex “.
The Holy See is reassuring about the state of health of the Sovereign Pontiff in recent hours. He said this Thursday, February 20, that the Pope had a “peaceful night” and had breakfast in an armchair. On the evening of Wednesday, February 19, he spoke of a “slight improvement” in the inflammatory clues observed with blood tests. Earlier in the day, Pope Francis “continued his work with his closest collaborators” and received the visit of the Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, who described him as “alert and reactive”. The Holy Father would remain of “good humor” according to the Vatican.
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 Bac à correre s tha tight on Wednesday indicated: “The most dreaded danger is sepsis, the passage of microorganisms in the blood that spread 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, complex, complex picture With words that report real problems, it is clearly the most serious and most worrying press releases that we have ever seen on hospitalization of Pope Francis “. “The worst can happen, but the pope could also get better in the coming hours. We are really in a complex situation,” he insists.
Father Antonio Spadaro, 58, director for twelve years of the Jesuit civilian review Cattolica, is an under-secretary of the Vatican dicastery for culture and close to Pope Francis. He estimated Wednesday that the situation of Pope Francis “is delicate”, that he had not “perceived any form of alarmism”: “We were talking about a polymicrobial respiratory infection which required demanding investigations, now we specify that The appearance of pneumonia has been detected.
Pope Francis’s fragile health
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 the inflammation persists beyond 10 days.
Latest updates
08:57 – Pope Francis spent a “peaceful night”
The Vatican continues to give reassuring news to Pope Francis’ state of health, this Thursday, February 20. According to the Holy See, the Sovereign Pontiff spent a “peaceful night” and had his “breakfast in an armchair”. The day before, he mentioned a “slight improvement” on inflammatory clues, but he does not give medical details this morning.
02/19/25 – 23:24 – How will the Pope’s succession go?
Pope Francis has already assured that he would not resign from his duties. He will therefore remain Pope until the end of his life. After that, the cardinals voters, that is to say those who will be under the age of 80 on D-Day, will meet in conclave in order to elect one of them. The exact number of cardinals vary. As of February 19, 2025, they were 137 potentially voters, and therefore eligible.
02/19/25 – 19:53 – The Vatican gives reassuring news
The Vatican has given reassuring news to Pope Francis’ health, in a statement published in the evening. Blood analyzes would demonstrate “a slight improvement”, especially in terms of inflammatory clues.
The pope would have continued to work today, receiving his closest collaborators and even Georgia Meloni.
02/19/25 – 18:56 – Georgia Meloni gives news from the pope after his visit
The president of the Council of Ministers of Italy visited Pope Francis this Wednesday, February 19. She gave reassuring news of the Argentinian Jesuit, ensuring that he is “alert” and that he “jokes”. She also describes him as “reactive”.
02/19/25 – 16:20 – Giorgia meloni visits Pope Francis
This Wednesday, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni went to the Gemelli hospital to visit Pope Francis. The latter expressed its vows as a speedy recovery to the Sovereign Pontiff. “I am very happy to have found it alert and responsive (…) We joked as always. He did not lose his sense of proverbial humor,” said Meloni, words relayed in the columns of CORRIERE DELLASERA.
02/19/25 – 15:04 – a “moment of work and suffering for him”
While Pope Francis is still in a state deemed disturbing at the Gemelli hospital, the president of the fraternity of communion and liberation, Davide Prosperi unveils a note relayed by Corriere dellasera this Wednesday: “We pray for Pope Francis at the moment of work and suffering for him, “he wrote.
02/19/25 – 13:50 – The pope “should not even breathe”
The medical team in charge of Pope Francis “knows well the delicate situation in which the 88-year-old sovereign Pontiff is,” the Italian daily newspaper said this Wednesday afternoon CORRIERE DELLASERA. No visit should be tolerated, not even “the opening of a window should jeopardize hospitalization”, it specifies. “He shouldn’t even breathe,” the main Italian news agency and the fifth in the world according to the Ansa.
02/19/25 – 11:56 – “The state of the pope has worsened,” says an Italian newspaper
According to information from Transalpine daily life CORRIERE DELLASERAit is clear “that the state of the pope had worsened” yesterday. “Less reassuring news began to filter,” it’s also read. In reality, the sovereign pontiff “had arrived in Gomelli (the hospital) strongly immunocomic due to the therapy with cortisone which preceded its hospitalization and which was intended to facilitate its breathing”, specifies the media.
02/19/25 – 10:58 – “Absolute rest” and a minimum of visits
This Friday morning, the sovereign pontiff is self-ventilated, in other words, he does not need oxygen to help him breathe properly, “or at least, not permanently”, tempers his Corriere dellasera, particularly worried in his tone and his words about the Pope. No visit except for its closest employees is planned, which is part of the medical prescription of the “absolute rest” made to it. This afternoon, only Cardinal Pietro Parolin, his secretary of state, is expected to visit him.
02/19/25 – 10:53 – “The doctors who follow it are extremely worried”
“Doctors who follow it are extremely worried, perhaps more than in previous hospitalizations. His conditions are defined as” stable “in a very critical framework,” said this Wednesday Corriere Dellaserra. According to the media, “it is not a good sign. This can mean that the therapies administered, based on antibiotics and antifungals, used against bacterial and mycotic (fungal) infections, have not led so far to Significant improvements.
02/19/25 – 10:47 – After a “quiet night”, the heart of the pope “holds very well”
According to a short statement from the Vatican published this Wednesday, February 19, 2025, “the Pope spent a quiet night, woke up and had breakfast,” we learned. In addition, according to Vatican sources cited by Lapressthe pope “got up and sat” and his heart “holds very well” this Wednesday morning. Rather reassuring news.