The Pope has had a 'tranquil' night in hospital, according to the Vatican, where he has has spent the past week being treated for double pneumonia and chronic bronchitis. Pope Francis, 88, was said to be in a critical condition on Saturday night after a prolonged respiratory crisis and needed a high-flow of oxygen.
Tests revealed thrombocytopenia, which is linked to anaemia, and required blood transfusions. A quick update on Saturday morning revealed Pope Francis would not lead Sunday prayers for a second consecutive week. Francis is instead expected to compose a written homily to be delivered by someone else during Sunday's Angelus.
In a brief earlier update on Saturday, Francis slept well overnight. But 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.
"He is not out of danger," said his personal physician, Dr. Luigi Carbone. "So like all fragile patients, I say they are always on the golden scale: In other words, it takes very little to become unbalanced.". Francis, who has chronic lung disease, was admitted to Gemelli hospital on February 14 after a weeklong bout of bronchitis worsened.
Doctors first diagnosed the complex viral, bacterial and fungal respiratory tract infection and then the onset of pneumonia in both lungs. They prescribed "absolute rest" and a combination of cortisone and antibiotics, along with supplemental oxygen when he needs it.
Carbone, who along with Francis' personal nurse Massimiliano Strappetti organised care for him at the Vatican, acknowledged he had insisted on staying at the Vatican to work, even after he was sick, "because of institutional and private commitments.". He was cared for by a cardiologist and infectious specialist in addition to his personal medical team before being taken into hospital.
Doctor Sergio Alfieri, the head of medicine and surgery at Rome's Gemelli hospital, said the biggest threat facing Francis was that some of the germs that are currently located in his respiratory system pass into the bloodstream, causing sepsis. Sepsis can lead to organ failure and death.
"Sepsis, with his respiratory problems and his age, would be really difficult to get out of," Alfieri told a news conference Friday at Gemelli. "The English say 'knock on wood,' we say 'touch iron.' Everyone touch what they want," he said as he tapped the microphone.
"But this is the real risk in these cases: that these germs pass to the bloodstream.". "He knows he's in danger," Alfieri added. "And he told us to relay that.". Deacons, meanwhile, were gathering at the Vatican for their special Jubilee weekend. Francis got sick at the start of the Vatican's Holy Year, the once-every-quarter-century celebration of Catholicism.
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