Pope Francis, who has been in hospital for more than a week, rested ‘peacefully overnight’ although the Vatican update on Sunday morning did not confirm if he was sitting up or eating breakfast as previous days’ had done
The Vatican says Pope Francis rested and that the night was ‘tranquil’ after the leader of the Catholic church suffered a respiratory crisis a day earlier.
Last night, the church revealed Pope Francis is now in a critical condition after he suffered a long asthmatic respiratory crisis in hospital.
Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni’s one-line statement on Sunday morning didn’t mention if Francis was up or eating breakfast.
The brief update came after doctors said the 88-year-old pope, who had part of one lung removed as a young man, was in critical condition. On Saturday morning, he suffered a prolonged asthmatic respiratory crisis while being treated for pneumonia and a complex lung infection.
The pope received “high flows” of oxygen to help him breathe. He also received blood transfusions after tests showed low counts of platelets, which are needed for clotting, the Vatican said in a late update.
The 88-year-old Francis, who has been hospitalised for a week with a complex lung infection, also received blood transfusions after tests showed a condition associated with anemia, the Vatican said in a late update on Saturday evening. “The Holy Father continues to be alert and spent the day in an armchair although in more pain than yesterday. At the moment the prognosis is reserved,” the statement said.
Doctors have said Francis’ condition is touch-and-go, given his age, fragility and pre-existing lung disease, and that the main threat facing him is if the infection enters the bloodstream, a serious condition known as sepsis.
As of Friday, there was no evidence of any sepsis, and Francis was responding to the various drugs he is taking, the pope’s medical team said in their first in-depth update on the his condition.
“He is not out of danger,” said his personal physician, Dr. Luigi Carbone.
“So like all fragile patients I say they are always on the golden scale: In other words, it takes very little to become unbalanced.” Francis, who has chronic lung disease, was admitted to Gemelli hospital on February 14 after a weeklong bout of bronchitis worsened.
Doctors first diagnosed the complex viral, bacterial and fungal respiratory tract infection and then the onset of pneumonia in both lungs.
They prescribed “absolute rest” and a combination of cortisone and antibiotics, along with supplemental oxygen when he needs it.
Dr. Carbone, who along with Francis’ personal nurse Massimiliano Strappetti organised care for him at the Vatican, acknowledged he had insisted on staying at the Vatican to work, even after he was sick, “because of institutional and private commitments.” He was cared for by a cardiologist and infectious specialist in addition to his personal medical team before being hospitalised.
Dr. Sergio Alfieri, the head of medicine and surgery at Rome’s Gemelli hospital, said the biggest threat facing Francis was that some of the germs that are currently located in his respiratory system pass into the bloodstream, causing sepsis.
Sepsis can lead to organ failure and death.
“Sepsis, with his respiratory problems and his age, would be really difficult to get out of,” Alfieri told a news conference Friday at Gemelli.
“The English say ‘knock on wood,’ we say ‘touch iron.’ Everyone touch what they want,” he said as he tapped the microphone.