Pope Francis had coffee and read the newspapers on Saturday After an alarming reverse In its two -week recovery of double pneumonia: the doctors had to put it on non -invasive mechanical ventilation after a cough adjustment in which it inhaled a vomit which was then to be extracted.
The doctors said that it would take a day or two to assess how and if the Friday afternoon episode had an impact on Francis’ overall clinical condition. His prognosis remained kept, which means that he was not by danger.
In his morning update on Saturday, the Vatican said that the 88 -year -old Pope had not had other respiratory crises overnight: “The night has sold quietly, the Pope rests.” He had a coffee in the morning for breakfast, suggesting that he did not depend on a ventilation mask to breathe and always ate alone.
During the end of Friday update, the Vatican said that Francis had undergone a “isolated crisis of bronchial spasm”, a coughing crisis in which Francis inhaled a vomit, which led to a “sudden worsening of the respiratory image”. Doctors sucked vomit and placed Francis on non -invasive mechanical ventilation.
The Pope has remained aware and alerts at all times and cooperated with the maneuvers to help him recover. He responded well, with a good level of oxygen exchange and continued to wear a mask to receive additional oxygen, said the Vatican.
The episode, which occurred in the early afternoon, marked a setback in what had been two successive days of increasingly optimistic reports of doctors dealing with Francis at the Gemelli Hospital in Rome since February 14. The Pope, who had been part of a lung suppressed like a young man, has a lung disease and was admitted after a buff for bronchitis and transformed into pneumonia in the two landons.
Doctors say the episode is alarming
The Vatican said that the episode was different from the prolonged respiratory crisis on February 22, which would have caused a discomfort of Francis.
Dr. John Coleman, an intensive care doctor in Northwestern Medicine in Chicago, said that the isolated episode on Friday as relayed by the Vatican was nevertheless alarming and underlined Francis’s fragility and that his condition “can turn very quickly”.
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“I think this is extremely worrying, since the Pope has now been in the hospital for more than two weeks, and now he continues to have these respiratory events and has now had this suction event that requires even higher support levels,” he told the Associated Press.
“So, given his age and his fragile state and his previous pulmonary resection, this is very worrying,” added Coleman, who is not involved in Francis’ care.
Dr. William Feldman, a pulmonary specialist in Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, said it was a good sign that the Pope had remained alert and oriented during the episode, but concluded that he was scoring “a worrying tour”.
“Often, we will use non -invasive ventilation as a means of trying to ward off intubation or the use of invasive mechanical ventilation,” said Feldman.
Non -invasive ventilation types include a bipap machine, which helps people breathe by pushing air in their lungs. Doctors will often try such a machine for a while to see if the patient’s blood gas levels improve so that they can possibly start using oxygen alone. Friday’s press release said Francis showed a “right answer” to gas exchange using ventilation.
Doctors have not resumed by referring to Francis in a “critical state”, which has been absent from their statements for three days now. But they say that he is not by danger, given the complexity of his case.
Prayers continued to flock
The hospitalization of Francis came while the Vatican marks his holy year which attracts pilgrims in Rome everywhere. They cross the holy door of the Saint-Pierre Basilica and also make pilgrimages in the Umbrian city at the summit of the hill of Assisi, to pray at the homonym of the homonym of François, Saint-François.
“Every day, we pray for the pope,” said Reverend Jacinto Bento, a visiting priest sitting on Saturday with a group of 30 pilgrims from the Jubilee of the Azores Islands. “We are very sad for his situation.”
Veronica Abraham, an Argentine catechist and originally, came to sit on Saturday with her two children and other children from his parish on Lake Garda and said that the group had prayed for the pope in each church they had visited.
“I am sure he hears our prayers, that he feels our proximity,” she said.
Serena BARBON, on a visit to Treviso on Saturday with her husband and three children, said that she hoped that if Francis would not do it, the next pope will be like him.
“He was very charismatic and we pray for him and that any new pope is also someone who puts the poor in the center. Because we are all a little poor, “she said.
–Dell’orto reported to Assisi, Italy. The writer Associated Press Carla K. Johnson in the state of Washington contributed to this report.
& Copy 2025 the Canadian press
