A critically ill Pope Francis, who is battling pneumonia in both lungs, ‘rested well’, the Vatican said on Tuesday after earlier reporting a ‘slight improvement’ in the condition of the 88-year-old.
The Argentine pontiff was admitted to Rome’s Gemelli hospital on February 14 with breathing difficulties and bronchitis but his condition has subsequently worsened and Catholic faithful around the world have been praying for his recovery.
‘The Pope rested well, all night long,’ said the Vatican in a morning update on the 12th day of the pope’s hospital stay.
The Holy See issued a more hopeful update Monday evening, saying that the pope’s ‘critical clinical conditions… demonstrate a slight improvement’.
It said Francis had experienced no more respiratory attacks – as he had suffered on Saturday, requiring ‘high-flow oxygen’ – and some lab tests had improved.
But the pope remains ‘a fragile patient,’ as his doctor Luigi Carbone stated Friday, and his medical team have cautioned that it will take time for his drug treatments to show a positive effect.
‘Considering the complexity of the clinical picture,’ his doctors have declined to ‘decide on the prognosis,’ the Vatican said Monday.
Francis, who is staying in a special papal suite on the 10th floor of the hospital, has continued to do some work and has moved from his bed to an armchair, while receiving the Eucharist in the morning.
Amid his ailing health, many have speculated that Francis will give up the Papacy before it’s too late.
He revealed he penned a statement 12 years ago in the event that illness prevent him from fulfilling his duties.
Francis wrote the letter to Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the then Secretary of State, who holds the second highest position in the Vatican.
Asked whether there was a procedure in the event he would have to resign, the leader of the Catholic Church once told Spanish newspaper ABC he had made provision for his renunciation after taking office in 2013.
Referring to Cardinal Bertone, he said: ‘I signed it and said: “If I should become impaired for medical reasons or whatever, here is my resignation. Here you have it.”‘
He added that he expected his letter would have been passed on to Cardinal Bertone’s successor, Cardinal Pietro Parolin.
‘Now someone will run up to Bertone [and say] “Give me that piece of paper!” the Pope said jokingly during the interview.