Pope Francis has improved enough to no longer be considered in imminent danger from pneumonia and other infections, the Vatican said on Monday, but added that he would require more days of treatment in the Rome hospital where he has been for nearly a month.
For weeks, doctors had said that Francis, who is 88 and entered the hospital after having difficulty breathing, had a “guarded” prognosis because the respiratory infection in both of his lungs was too serious for him to be considered out of danger. But his “good response to pharmacological therapy” and stable blood tests, the Vatican said in a statement on Monday, led doctors to believe that recent improvements had been “further consolidated.”
“However, in view of the complexity of the clinical picture and the significant infectious picture presented at hospitalization,” the Vatican added, his treatment will continue in “a hospital environment.”
On Monday, Francis continued to follow via video link spiritual exercises by members of the Vatican clergy, and he sent a telegram of condolence to victims of a flood in his home country, Argentina. In recent days, he also met with his top lieutenants in the hospital and sent an audio message, with a strained and weak voice, thanking the faithful for their prayers.
While the Vatican said the pope was expected to remain in the hospital, where he arrived on Feb. 14, for days it did not give an estimate of when Francis was expected to leave since his situation remained complex, a Vatican official said.
Francis, who has been receiving oxygen, has at times suffered severe setbacks, including a crisis in which he choked on his own vomit, requiring doctors to aspirate him. He has also required blood transfusions and noninvasive mechanical ventilation.
The pope’s failing health put the Roman Catholic Church on edge. Each night in St. Peter’s Square, cardinals have led the faithful in rosary prayers for his recovery. Catholics across the world have held vigils, while top Vatican officials have sought to tamp down speculation about his condition or talk of resignation.
The pope, however, had not overcome the pneumonia and had other health problems, the Vatican official said, including bronchiectasis — a chronic lung condition — that could yet pose significant danger.
The pontiff’s age and history of health conditions are also prompting his doctors to remain cautious, the official said. Francis had part of a lung removed as a young man and had been hospitalized before for a respiratory infection, as well as for colon surgery.
