Pope Francis isn’t out of danger but his condition isn’t life-threatening, medical team says

By NICOLE WINFIELD

ROME (AP) — Pope Francis’ condition isn’t life-threatening, but he’s not out of danger, his medical team said Friday, as the 88-year-old pontiff marked his first week in a hospital with pneumonia on top of chronic bronchitis.

Francis’ doctors delivered their first in-person update on the pope’s condition, saying that he will remain hospitalized at least all of next week. The pope is receiving occasional supplements of oxygen when he needs it and is responding to the strengthened drug therapy he is receiving to fight pneumonia and a complex lung infection, his doctors said Friday.

Gemelli hospital Dr. Sergio Alfieri and Francis’ personal physician, Dr. Luigi Carbone gave the detailed update on Francis’ condition.

Carbone said Francis was responding to the drug therapy that was “strengthened” after the pneumonia was diagnosed earlier this week. He is also fighting a multipronged infection of bacteria and virus in the respiratory tract. Doctors said there was no evidence the germs had entered his bloodstream, a condition known as sepsis that they said would be the biggest concern. Sepsis is a complication of an infection that can lead to organ failure and death.

Francis is also receiving supplemental oxygen when he needs it through a nasal cannula, a thin flexible tube that delivers oxygen through the nose.

Francis was admitted to Rome’s Gemelli hospital on Feb. 14 after a case of bronchitis worsened. Doctors later diagnosed a complex respiratory infection, involving bacteria, virus and other organisms and the onset of pneumonia in both lungs on top of asthmatic bronchitis. They prescribed “absolute rest.”

As his hospital stay drags on, some of Francis’ cardinals have begun responding to the obvious question that is circulating: whether Francis might resign if he becomes irreversibly sick and unable to carry on. Francis has said he would consider it, after Pope Benedict XVI “opened the door” to popes retiring, but has shown no signs of stepping down and in fact has asserted recently that the job of pope is for life.

Before the medical team’s update on Friday, the Vatican said that Francis marked the one-week point in his hospital stay by getting up and out of bed to eat breakfast. Late Thursday, the Vatican reported a “slight improvement” in his overall clinical condition, with his heart working well.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

ROME (AP) — Pope Francis marked the one-week point Friday in his hospital stay, getting up and out of bed to eat breakfast as the 88-year-old pontiff continued fighting pneumonia and a complex respiratory infection, the Vatican said.

The Vatican late Thursday reported a “slight improvement” in his overall clinical condition, with his heart working well. But it will still take some time to understand if the various drug therapies are working, and outside doctors have said that regardless, recovery from pneumonia in such a fragile patient could take up to two weeks.

According to the one-line morning bulletin Friday, “The night went well, this morning Pope Francis got up and had breakfast.”

Francis was admitted to Rome’s Gemelli hospital on Feb. 14 after a case of bronchitis worsened; doctors later diagnosed a complex respiratory infection, involving bacteria, virus and other organisms and the onset of pneumonia in both lungs on top of asthmatic bronchitis. They prescribed “absolute rest.”

As his hospital stay drags on, some of Francis’ cardinals have begun responding to the obvious question circulating: whether Francis might resign if he becomes irreversibly sick and unable to carry on. Francis has said he would consider it, after Pope Benedict XVI “opened the door” to popes retiring, but has shown no signs of stepping down and in fact has asserted recently that the job of pope is for life.

But the question is now in the air, ever since Benedict became the first pope in 600 years to retire when he concluded in 2013 that he didn’t have the physical strength to carry on the rigors of the globe-trotting papacy.

“Everything is possible,” said Cardinal Jean-Marc Aveline, the archbishop of Marseille, France, when asked Thursday.

Another cardinal, Gianfranco Ravasi, suggested it was more than just a possibility.

“There is no question that if he (Francis) was in a situation where his ability to have direct contact (with people) as he likes to do … was compromised, then I think he might decide to resign,” Ravasi was quoted as telling RTL 102.5 radio.

Francis confirmed in 2022 that, shortly after being elected pontiff, he wrote a resignation letter in case medical problems impeded him from carrying out his duties. There is no provision in canon law for what to do if a pope becomes incapacitated.

But there is no indication Francis is in any way incapacitated or is even considering stepping aside. During his hospital stay, he has continued to work, including making bishop appointments. After a hospital stay in 2021, he bristled when he learned that some clergy were allegedly already preparing for a conclave to elect his successor.

Francis had an acute case of pneumonia in 2023 and is prone to respiratory infections in winter.