Pope Francis remained stable on Sunday and no longer requires the use of mechanical ventilation to breathe, the Vatican said, in a sign of progress as the 88-year-old pontiff battles double pneumonia. Source: Canberra Times.
Francis has been in Rome’s Gemelli hospital for more than two weeks.
He was admitted on February 14 with a severe respiratory infection that triggered other complications.
“The clinical conditions of the Holy Father have remained stable throughout the day,” said the latest detailed update about the pontiff’s condition on Sunday.
The Pope, it said, no longer needed the use of what the Vatican has called “non-invasive mechanical ventilation” but was continuing to receive oxygen via a small hose under his nose.
The statement said the Pope had not had a fever on Sunday.
It said doctors were keeping his prognosis as “guarded” due to “the complexity of the clinical picture,” meaning the Pope is not out of danger.
Francis, who is spending his 17th night in hospital, met earlier on Sunday with two Vatican officials and offered thanks to well-wishers for their prayers and support in a written message.
“I would like to thank you for the prayers,” Francis said in a note released by the Vatican in place of his usual Sunday Angelus prayer with pilgrims, which the Pope was not able to lead for the third week running.
“I feel all your affection and closeness and … I feel as if I am ‘carried’ and supported by all God’s people,” the message said.
In the message, he also thanked his doctors for their care and prayed again for peace in Ukraine and elsewhere.
“From here, war appears even more absurd,” Francis said in the message, which he drafted in recent days from the Gemelli hospital, the Vatican said.
Francis also met at the hospital on Sunday with Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s number two official, and Parolin’s deputy, said Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni, without giving further details about the meeting.
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Pope thanks well-wishers, no longer needs ventilation (AAP via Canberra Times)
