෴The Vatican has said that Pope Francis is showing signs of improvement, with his condition remaining stable and no need for mechanical ventilation on Sunday. This welcome news indicates that the Pope has overcome the potential risks associated with a respiratory crisis on Friday, and his breathing is gradually getting stronger as he battles double pneumonia.
𒐪The 88-year-old pope did continue to receive high flow supplemental oxygen after Friday's coughing episode, which sparked fears of a new lung infection.
🍃Doctors in their late Sunday update said Francis remained stable but again referred to the complexity of his overall condition and kept his prognosis at guarded, meaning he wasn't out of danger.
ꦐFrancis, who has been in the hospital since Feb 14, rested, prayed in his private chapel and participated in Mass for the rest of the day after having a visit in the morning from the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, and his chief of staff, Archbishop Edgar Pena Parra.
♔The content of their talks wasn't known, but even when at the Vatican, Francis meets at least weekly with them.
🎀He again skipped his weekly noon blessing to avoid even a brief public appearance from the hospital. Instead, the Vatican distributed a message written by the pope from Gemelli hospital in which he thanked his doctors for their care and well-wishers for their prayers, and prayed again for peace in Ukraine and elsewhere.
🀅“From here, war appears even more absurd,” Francis said in the message, which he drafted in recent days. Francis said he was living his hospitalization as an experience of profound solidarity with people who are sick and suffering everywhere.
♛“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.”
Signs Point To A Recovery
ꦯMany signs indicated he was improving, especially after a respiratory crisis on Friday afternoon that resulted in him inhaling vomit during a coughing fit and raising the possibility of new infection. Doctors aspirated the vomit and put him on noninvasive mechanical ventilation, a mask that pumps oxygen into the lungs.
🥂He used the ventilation on Saturday, alternating it with just supplemental oxygen, and by Sunday no longer needed it.
▨Doctors also reported he had no fever or raised white blood cell levels, which would have indicated his body was fighting a new infection. The doctors had said they needed 24 to 48 hours after Friday's coughing episode to determine if there were any negative impacts on Francis' overall condition. The passage of time and positive reports Sunday suggested he had overcome the episode successfully.
Prayers Continued To Pour In
💮Francis' hospitalisation has come as the Vatican is marking its Holy Year, drawing pilgrims to Rome from all over. Many have added a pilgrimage destination to their itineraries so they can pray for Francis at the Gemelli hospital, which is around a 20-minute drive from the Vatican, longer in rush hour or on public transport.
🌠The Rev Riccardo Fumagalli had accompanied a group of young people from Milan to Rome for the Jubilee and would have attended Francis' Angelus prayer in St Peter's Square on Sunday if he had delivered it as usual. Instead, they went to Gemelli.
🤡“It seemed good to us to come here to express our closeness, especially of these teenagers, to be close to the Holy Father to pray for him, to pray for this moment of illness,” he said.
(With AP Inputs)
