ROME – Pope Francis' respiratory infections present a “complex clinical picture” that requires further hospitalization, the Vatican said on Monday that concerns about the 88-year-old clergyman's increasingly frail health I stated.
Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said the results of tests conducted on recent days and Mondays suggest that the Pope suffers from a “multi-microbial respiratory infection” that requires further changes in his drug therapy. He said it was showing. Scientists say multimicrobial diseases are caused by a mix of viruses, bacteria, fungi and parasites.
There was no time slot given for his hospitalization, but he has been on the sidelines for longer than his 2023 hospitalization for pneumonia. Bruni said the complexity of his symptoms “needs to have a proper hospitalization.”
Francis was admitted to Gemeri Hospital in Rome in “fair” on Friday after a week-long bronchitis match worsened. The doctor confirmed a respiratory tract infection and prescribed an “absolute rest” along with unspecified medication. Subsequent updates said his slight fever had disappeared and he was in a “stable” state.
Bruni said Francis had breakfast and read the newspaper after his third peaceful night on Monday morning.
The Argentine Pope, who removed part of his lungs as a young man after a lung infection, is a known workaholic who maintains a tough pace despite his increasingly unstable health. He uses a wheelchair, walker or cane due to poor knees and suffers from sciatic nerve pain. In 2021, he had 33cm (13 inches) of the colon removed due to strictures and had further surgery in 2023 to remove scar tissue from the intestine and repair abdominal hernia.
When he had a bad case of pneumonia in 2023, he left the hospital three days later and admitted only after the fact that he was urgently admitted after feeling faint and sharp pain in his chest. This time, Francis insisted on finishing his morning audience before leaving the Vatican on Friday.
Francis' continued hospitalization has already forced the cancellation of several events related to the Vatican Holy Year, bringing other events into question. The Holy See only confirmed the appointments that were cancelled until Monday. Francis should have gone to Cinesitta Film Studio in Rome to meet the artists as part of the Catholic Church's Holy Year celebration.
The next scheduled appointment of the Pope is his weekly general audience on Wednesday. Beyond that, he will be presided over at the deacon ordained as part of the holy year-end weekend dedicated to the deacon on Sunday. Francis' participation in both is questionable, but remains on the official Vatican schedule.
The cardinal stood for him when he missed the masses of jubilee, dedicated to the artists last Sunday.
