The Vatican said on Monday evening that Pope Francis had undergone “two episodes of acute respiratory failure” during the day, which, according to him, was caused by “a significant accumulation of endobronchial mucus and bronchospasm that results”.
The press release said the doctors made two bronchoscopies to relieve its respiratory distress.
“In the afternoon, non-invasive mechanical ventilation was resumed,” added the Vatican, noting that Francis remained alert and aware and that his prognosis after more than two weeks of hospitalization for bronchitis which deteriorated in pneumonia in the two lungs remained “kept”.
The Pope, who is 88 years old and has a long history of pulmonary problems, has struggled to overcome this disease, leading to the longest hospitalization of his pontificate.
Before spending a weekend resting without any crisisFrancis experienced a “sudden worse image“On Friday, the Vatican said, when he had only one” isolated crisis of bronchospasm “, that is to say when the muscles that line the respiratory tract in the lungs tighten.
This episode led the Pope to inhale vomiting, the Vatican said in a press release. Francis was treated with non -invasive mechanical ventilation and had a good answer, the Vatican said on Friday.
Shortly before the Vatican revealed his bronchospasm on Friday, Vatican sources told CBS News that the Pope’s health had improved, saying that he was not in critical condition after exactly two weeks in the hospital.
THE bilateral pneumonia The diagnosis given to the Pope on February 18 would have been a preliminary round for any patient his age, but that was particularly worrying for the head of the Catholic Church.
This is the fourth hospitalization of the pope since he took over the management of the Roman Catholic Church in 2013. He suffered an important abdominal surgery In 2021, then had another procedure in 2023 to repair the scar tissue and an abdominal hernia. He had been briefly hospitalized for treatment for pneumonia Earlier this year.
As a young man in his country of origin, Argentina, Francis had a part of a lung withdrawn as a result of a pulmonary infection, which left him vulnerable to respiratory diseases.
The Vatican announced earlier this month that Francis would not celebrate Sunday mass at the Saint-Pierre Basilica this year, due to its current recovery. The Pope’s current hospitalization comes just before the annual Christian observance of Lent. The 40 -day career period begins on Ash Wednesday, which is falling this year on March 5.
Just before Easter of last year, Francis refused to attend a procession of Good Friday in Rome’s Colosseum in order to keep his health, but the Pope then led tens of thousands of faithful in Easter celebrations.
