Pope Francis’s complex infection is not immediately life -threatening, his doctors said from Friday, from a hospital in Rome, where he was treated last week, but warned that he was “not out of danger.”
The 88-year-old PontiF, who has been removed part of the lungs removed at a young age, will remain in the hospital for at least another week, his doctors told reporters. Francis, they said, were prescribed “many medicines” for the treatment of bronchial infection that developed into a double pneumonia, but he was not on the respirator.
The doctors said the Pope was in a “good mood” and that even the jokes had even broke, but his condition remained critical.
“I know I’m an older man, that I have a chronic problem,” Pope told his surgeon, Sergio Alfieri, who shared a conversation with the press at the Policlinico Agostino Gemelli, a hospital where Francis treated.
“The situation at my age is serious,” Pope said, according to Dr. Alfieri. The Pope, his doctor said, realized the risk of death in his age and told him that “all the doors are open.”
Dr. Alfieri said that the Pope “was not out of danger” and described what he called “an important infection”, which did not enter the bloodstream, a life -threatening condition known as sepsis.
“If, unfortunately, one of these clicks should go into the bloodstream, any patient would develop sepsis and sepsis, with his respiratory conditions and his age, it could be very difficult to overcome,” he said.
As the Pope’s hospital enters the second week, questions are asked about the future of the Roman Catholic Church, whether Francis – a spiritual leader is almost 1.4 billion Catholics – leave or manage to fight his infection, but physically reduced. The damage to the lungs has already been chronic, and in recent days several cardinals have been openly talking about the possibility of Francis resigned, as his predecessor Benedict XVI 2013 did.
The calibration of the correct treatment included many factors, said Dr. Alfieri. “Our job is not easy.”
The Pope’s doctor in the Vatican, Luigi Carbone, noted that Francis, after all, was 88, and that it would take time to recover. It should not much to make the situation “unbalanced,” he said.
Dr. Alfieri said Francis was fragile but hard, and Dr. Carbone said Francis had not given up.
This is the fourth time Francis remained in Gemelli. 2021 he had colon surgery there. 2023 was admitted to respiratory infection But I went home after three days. Was re -hospitalized several months later subjected to abdominal surgery for Hernia. Dr. Alfieri, who performed both abdominal surgery, said on Friday that when it came to this medical condition, Francis was fine. The Pope’s heart was strong, he added.
Last February was subjected to diagnostic tests on Hospital After light flu. In recent years, he has been prone to the fights of flu and bronchitis during the cold winter months. Due to the problems with the knees and the sciatica, it often uses a wheelchair, a walker or a reed.
Dr. Alfieri said the Pope left his room on Friday night to pray in the chapel in his apartment at the hospital.
