Pope Francis was conscious but still receiving high flows of supplemental oxygen Sunday following a respiratory crisis and blood transfusions, as he remains in critical condition with a complex lung infection, the Vatican said.
“The night passed quietly, the pope rested,” Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said in an early statement. Further clinical tests were being performed on the 88-year-old pope, who had part of one lung removed as a young man. On Saturday, Francis suffered a prolonged asthmatic respiratory crisis that required “high flows” of oxygen to help him breathe through a nasal tube. He also received blood transfusions after tests showed low counts of platelets. Doctors said Saturday his prognosis was “reserved.”
Doctors have said Francis’ condition is touch-and-go, given his age, fragility and pre-existing lung disease. His condition has revived speculation about what might happen if he becomes unconscious or otherwise incapacitated, and whether he might resign.
Francis was supposed to have celebrated Mass on Sunday in St. Peter’s Basilica as part of the Vatican’s yearlong Holy Year commemoration. At the Mass, Archbishop Rino Fisichella called for “stronger and more intense” prayers for Pope.
Doctors have warned that the main threat facing Francis would be the onset of sepsis, a serious infection of the blood that can occur as a complication of pneumonia. As of Friday, there was no evidence of any sepsis, and Francis was responding to the various drugs he is taking, the pope’s medical team said in their first in-depth update on the pope’s condition.
Spending his 10th day in hospital, the pope was admitted to the Policlinico Agostino Gemelli on Feb. 14 with a complex respiratory tract infection that developed into pneumonia in both lungs.
