Improvements of the state of health of Pope Francis, 88 years old, hospitalized for double pneumoniaare “Consolidated” And the doctors decided that his state of health was no longer serious, announced the Vatican on Monday, March 10 in the evening. “The improvements recorded in the previous days have been consolidated, as confirmed by blood tests, (…) And the right response to drug treatment. For these reasons, the doctors decided today to remove the prognosis ”specifies the medical bulletin.
Its clinical condition “Rest stable”but “Given The complexity of the clinical picture And the important infectious table presented to admission, it will be necessary to continue, for a few more days, pharmacological medical therapy in hospital ”.
Earlier in the morning, a Vatican source said it was “Too early to speak of a return to the Sainte-Marthe residence”where the pope lives in the city of the Vatican.
“Crisis isolated from bronchospasm”
François was admitted to the Gemelli Hospital in Rome on February 14, the date since which he has no longer made public appearance, for bronchitis, which has evolved into double pneumonia. Her “Clinical frame” is updated and communicated every day by doctors.
The pontiff has experienced several alerts since its hospitalization: He first suffered from“An prolonged asthmatic crisis” February 22, who forced him to receive high speed oxygen through nasal cannulas, Then on February 28, “An isolated crisis of bronchospasm trained (…) sudden worsening of his respiratory state ».
The hospitalization of the Pope, the fourth since 2021, raises strong concerns, the sovereign pontiff having already been weakened by a series of problems in recent years: he has undergone colon operations and abdomen and experienced difficulties in walking. Overweight, he suffers from knee pain that forces him to move in a wheelchair since 2022.
His health concerns have relaunched questions around his ability to assume his functions. Canon law does not provide any provision in the event of a serious problem which would alter the lucidity of the sovereign pontiff. They also relaunch the conjectures on the possible resignation of the Pope, which however said several times that this moment had not happened.