Pope Francis, who is spending his sixth day in hospital for treatment of a respiratory infection, is alert and ate breakfast on Wednesday, the Vatican said in its latest update on the pontiff’s fragile health.
Francis has the onset of double pneumonia, the Vatican said on Tuesday, complicating treatment for the 88-year-old Pope who was admitted to Rome’s Gemelli hospital on February 14.
Double pneumonia is a serious infection that can inflame and scar both lungs and makes breathing more difficult.
The Vatican had said previously that the pope had a polymicrobial infection, which occurs when two or more micro-organisms are involved, adding that he would stay in hospital as long as necessary to tackle a “complex clinical situation”.
A Vatican official, who did not wish to be named because he was not authorised to speak about the pope’s condition, said on Wednesday Francis was not on a ventilator and was breathing on his own.
The official said the Pope had been able to get out of bed and sit in an armchair in his hospital room, and was continuing to do some work.
The Vatican is expected to give a further update on the Pope’s condition later on Wednesday.
A wave of messages of support for Francis had come in from across the world, the Vatican’s official media outlet reported.
Pilgrims at the Vatican on Wednesday for the Pope’s cancelled weekly audience expressed hope for his recovery.
“We will pray for him so that he can recover as soon as possible,” said Gianfranco Rizzo, a pilgrim from Bari, Italy.
The Pope has been plagued by ill health in recent years, including regular bouts of flu, sciatica nerve pain and an abdominal hernia that required surgery in 2023.
As a young adult he developed pleurisy and had part of one lung removed.
All the Pope’s public engagements have been cancelled through Sunday and he has no further official events on the Vatican’s published calendar.
Gemelli hospital, Rome’s largest, has a special suite for treating popes, and is known especially for often treating the late Pope John Paul II during his long papacy.
Francis spent nine days at Gemelli in June 2023, when he had surgery to repair an abdominal hernia.
Outside the hospital on Wednesday, people were leaving flowers and small personal notes under a famous statue of John Paul II, wishing a speedy recovery for Francis.
Victoria Darmody, a tourist from England, said she came to the hospital just to be near the Pope. “We were hoping to go to the papal audience today but felt this was the right place to be instead,” she said.
Andrea Vicini, a Jesuit priest and medical doctor, said it was notable that the Vatican’s statement on Tuesday referred to the pontiff as having the onset of pneumonia and not bronchopneumonia.
The latter would indicate an infection that is more widespread, he said.
“It (sounds like) it’s more localized and has not spread,” said Vicini, a professor at Boston College, who said he did not have details of the pope’s case beyond the Vatican’s public statements.
“If they identified the pathogen, as I expect they would have done, they will have a very targeted therapy,” he said. “I am optimistic. It seems they are controlling what is happening.”
Work at the Vatican was continuing as the Pope was in hospital.
One senior official, Cardinal Michael Czerny, was still expected to depart on Wednesday for a five-day visit to Lebanon.
The Vatican’s top diplomat, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, returned to Rome as scheduled on Wednesday morning from a trip to Burkina Faso.
(With inputs from Reuters)
