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Pope Francis rested well after overcoming a setback in his recovery caused by a respiratory crisis, as he remains in the hospital recovering from double pneumonia.
“The pope rested well all night,” the Vatican said Monday morning.
Francis, 88, is in stable condition, is off mechanical ventilation and he shows no indication of new infection following a respiratory crisis that happened late last week.
The pontiff was admitted to Rome’s Gemelli Hospital on Feb. 14 after a week-long bout of bronchitis worsened. Doctors first diagnosed the complex viral, bacterial and fungal respiratory tract infection and subsequently the onset of pneumonia in both lungs.
POPE FRANCIS OFF MECHANICAL VENTILATOR, HAS NO FEVER OR SIGNS OF INFECTION: VATICAN
Pope Francis waves from his popemobile after the weekly Angelus prayers, at Saint Peter’s Square in the Vatican on October 20, 2024. (Filippo Monteforte/AFP/Getty)
Doctors said the pope spent all day Sunday without using the noninvasive mechanical ventilation mask that pumps oxygen into his lungs that he used after a breathing crisis on Friday. Francis continued to receive high flow supplemental oxygen through a nasal tube.
The respiratory crisis on Friday led to concerns about a new lung infection since Francis inhaled some vomit. Doctors aspirated it and said they needed 24 to 48 hours to determine if there was any new infection.
On Sunday, the doctors said Francis remained stable, did not have a fever and showed no signs of an infection, which suggests he had overcome the respiratory crisis.
VATICAN GIVES HEALTH UPDATE AS POPE ENTERS THIRD WEEK IN HOSPITAL
Pope Francis attends a mass at the Esplanade of Tasitolu in Dili, East Timor, on September 10, 2024. (Tiziana Fabi/Pool/AFP/Getty)
But the pope’s prognosis remained guarded, meaning he was not out of danger.
Francis again missed his weekly noon blessing. The Vatican instead distributed a message the pope wrote, thanking his doctors for their care and well-wishers for their prayers.
In his message, he also prayed for peace in Ukraine and elsewhere.
“From here, war appears even more absurd,” Francis said.
Francis said he was living his hospitalization as an experience of profound solidarity with people who are sick and suffering around the world.
Pope Francis is helped by his aide Monsignor Leonardo Sapienza, left, as he walks with a cane to his weekly general audience in St. Peter’s Square at The Vatican on June 1, 2022. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, File)
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“I feel in my heart the ‘blessing’ that is hidden within frailty, because it is precisely in these moments that we learn even more to trust in the Lord,” Francis said in the text. “At the same time, I thank God for giving me the opportunity to share in body and spirit the condition of so many sick and suffering people.”
Cardinal Konrad Krajewski presided over the evening Rosary prayer in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday night at the Vatican.
“Let us pray together with the entire church for the health of the Holy Father Francis,” Krajewski said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
