Pope Francis is on the road to recovery and his doctors no longer issue a guarded prognosis, but his condition remains “complex,” and he has to remain in the hospital for some more time, according to the latest medical update, which the Vatican released just before 8 p.m. this evening, March 10.
The pope’s doctors report that given that his “clinical condition continues to be stable” and “the improvements of recent days,” they have removed “the guarded prognosis” that they have retained throughout these past 25 days.
The medical update said: “The improvements recorded in the previous days were further consolidated, as confirmed by both blood tests and clinical objectivity and the good response to the pharmacological therapy.”
“For these reasons,” it added, “the doctors have today decided to release the prognosis.”
Nevertheless, it said that “in consideration of the complexity of the clinical picture and the significant infection picture presented on [his] admission [to the hospital]” on Feb. 14, the doctors said “it will be necessary to continue, for more days, the medical pharmacological therapy in a hospital environment.”
Dr. Anna Lisa Bilotta, who works in the Salvator Mundi international hospital in Rome and is not treating the pope, told America that “given that the improvements of recent days have remained stable—as shown by the blood values, the clinical signs, and the response to the pharmacological therapy” the doctors have decided to dissolve the prognosis. She remarked “this is an excellent sign and a step forward.”
She added, however, that given “the complexity of his clinical picture,” with multiple pathologies, the pope’s advanced age, and the infection he had on being admitted to the hospital 25 days ago, “his recovery will require some more time so as to continue the therapy in a hospital.”
Asked if “the dissolving of the prognosis” means that the pope is out of danger, Dr. Bilotta said “I would not say that because for someone in an advanced age like he is, with the various pathologies, something unforeseen can always happen.” She preferred to say that the “dissolving of the prognosis” signifies that “his situation is not as severe as before.”
An informed Vatican source concurred: “The danger remains, but there is not an imminent danger to his life.” He underlined that what we have are “positive signs in the course of the pathology, but these have to be taken with prudence and caution because the pneumonia has not yet been overcome, and his clinical picture remains complex.”
This evening’s update also said that Pope Francis was able to follow the Spiritual Exercises for the Roman Curia by video link with the Paul VI Audience Hall in the morning, and then received the Eucharist and went to spend some time in prayer in the chapel of the private apartment. In the afternoon, too, he joined the Spiritual Exercises via video link. It added that “during the day he alternated prayer with rest.”
On Monday, March 10, at 8:25 a.m. the Vatican reported that Pope Francis “had [passed] a quiet night, and is resting.” It was his 25th night in the Gemelli Hospital and, following the medical plan prescribed by his doctors, he wore a mask over his nose and mouth at night to receive oxygen through mechanical ventilation.
That same day—his 25th in hospital—he resumed the use of nasal tubes to receive high-flow oxygen, and continued with his medical and respiratory therapy as well as motor physiotherapy to help him regain strength.
A Vatican source confirmed that Francis is following the prescribed diet, which now includes solid foods.
On Sunday evening, March 9, in yet another sign of his improved condition, the Vatican reported that Pope Francis had followed by video link from his hospital apartment the Spiritual Exercises for the Roman Curia officials that had just begun in the Paul VI Audience Hall, and were being conducted by the Franciscan priest he had appointed as the Preacher of the Papal Household, Roberto Pasolini, O.F.M.Cap.
He followed the retreat again via video link, sitting on his armchair this Monday morning, the Vatican press office said. It also announced that because of the Spiritual Exercises, the Rosary will not be recited in St. Peter’s Square this week, but will be said at the end of the evening’s session of the Spiritual Exercises in the Paul VI Audience Hall, around 6 p.m., and will also be broadcast on Vatican Media.
As announced last Thursday, his doctors have decided not to release a medical update on the pope’s health every day because of the stability of his clinical condition. After last Saturday evening’s report, the next update was scheduled for Monday, March 10.
Pope Francis’s hospitalization is being followed closely and with great concern in Argentina, his homeland, which he left on Feb. 27, 2013 for the conclave that elected him pope, but to which he has never returned. President Javier Milei sent the Secretary for Religious Affairs of his government, Nahuel Sotelo, to Rome for 10 days as a way of his being close to Francis at this difficult moment in his life.
Mr. Sotelo kept a low profile throughout his stay here and gave no interviews to the press. He was hosted by the Argentine Ambassador to the Holy See, Luis Pablo Beltramino, at his residence very near the Vatican, and returns to Buenos Aires tomorrow.
During his stay here, he met senior Vatican officials, including Cardinal Pietro Parolin, secretary of state, and Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra, secretary for the general affairs of the church, commonly referred to as the chief of staff. He also attended Mass with the Argentine community in Rome at the church of Santa Maria Addolorata, the Argentine national church in the eternal city.
Mr. Sotelo also joined a group of Argentines to pray the Rosary for the recovery of Pope Francis in front of the Gemelli Hospital, by the statue of St. John Paul II, who had been hospitalized here seven times. Nowadays, many people come here to pray for Pope Francis and have placed flowers, pictures of the Argentine pope, candles and other items by the statue of his Polish predecessor.
Today too, the Vatican said, Pope Francis was informed of the floods caused by torrential rains in Argentina in the port city of Bahía Blanca; 16 people died and there was much damage, and he expressed his closeness to the people there. “Pope Francis is aware of the flood that has hit Argentina” the Vatican said as it broke the news. “He is close to the people of the Bahia Blanca area in thought and prayer.”
