Breathing crisis renews concerns over pontiff’s health as he battles double pneumonia.
Pope Francis, who has been hospitalised for two weeks with pneumonia in both of his lungs, has had a peaceful night after suffering a breathing crisis, the Vatican says.
The 88-year-old pontiff suffered a crisis on Friday, including “vomiting with inhalation and a sudden worsening of the respiratory condition”, the Vatican said.
On Saturday, the Holy See said in a statement: “The pope spent a peaceful night and is resting.”
A Vatican source added that “there have been no crises like yesterday. The pope woke up, had breakfast and read the papers as usual.”
On Friday, Francis needed aspiration to help remove vomit from his airways, the Vatican noted, and said he also required noninvasive mechanical ventilation, meaning he was not intubated, which would have necessitated sedation.
The pope’s doctors have said that after Friday’s health issues, it would take 24 to 48 hours to see whether the pope’s breathing trouble has worsened his condition.
Francis was admitted to Rome’s Gemelli University Hospital on February 14 with severe respiratory problems that swiftly degenerated into double pneumonia, a serious infection in both lungs that can inflame and scar them, making it difficult to breathe.
He last suffered what the Vatican described as a “prolonged asthma-like respiratory crisis” on February 22, but there had not been any repeat crises until Friday.
Francis has not been seen in public since entering hospital, his longest absence from view since his papacy started in March 2013.
On Saturday, a Vatican official said that for a third week running, the pope is not expected to lead his usual Sunday prayers with pilgrims and that once again the text of the Angelus prayer would likely be published rather than read out.
There has been speculation as to whether Francis might now resign, especially as his schedule has been packed with papal duties during celebrations for the holy Jubilee year.
“If the pope survives, many imagine that he will want to finish the Jubilee year, but that afterwards, when he is 89, he will face the question of whether or not to resign,” Italian Vatican expert Marco Politi told the AFP news agency.
Francis has always said he is open to following his immediate predecessor, Benedict XVI, who in 2013 stepped down because of his age (85) and his physical health.
But before his hospitalisation, Francis had repeatedly said it was not yet the time – and may never be.
Meanwhile, Catholics around the world continue to pray for the pope’s speedy recovery.
On Saturday, people flocked to Gemelli Hospital, braving rain to light candles and pray at the foot of a statue of Pope John Paul II.
An older man stood for about five minutes under an umbrella with a lit candle that he then carefully placed at the foot of the statue.
About a dozen nuns also prayed for the pontiff while there were handwritten messages for “Papa Francesco”, including posters illustrated by children and balloons bearing Francis’s image.
