Pope Francis’ clinical condition “remains stable” within “the complexity of his overall situation,” and the chest X-ray carried out yesterday “confirmed the improvements that had been registered in the previous days,” according to the medical report from his doctors that the Vatican released around 7:10 pm on March 12.
Pope Francis continues to receive “high-flow oxygen during the day” through nasal tubes and by non-invasive mechanical ventilation at night with a mask that covers his mouth and nose.
The medical update reported that “he continued respiratory physiotherapy” and “motor physiotherapy” today, as he has been doing in recent days.
As he has done since last Sunday evening, Pope Francis continued to follow the meditations given by the Capuchin priest, Roberto Passolini, each morning and evening, at the week-long Spiritual Exercises for the members of the Roman Curia, in the Vatican’s Paul VI Audience Hall. The Vatican update said he also received the Eucharist and dedicated himself to prayer as he does every day.
Dr. Anna Lisa Bilotta, who works in the Salvator Mundi International Hospital in Rome and is not treating the pope, told America that today’s medical update does not report any significant step forward from what was reported in Monday’s bulletin.
“It does, however, say that the chest X-ray that was carried out on the pope has confirmed the improvements of these past days. This regards the pneumonia infection, and it enabled the doctors to remove the guarded prognosis. That is, of course, a good sign.”
On the other hand, she said, “the fact that the pope still continues to receive oxygen by day and by night is what makes his situation stationary or stable….A very good sign [of the pope’s improvement] would be a reduction of time that he has to receive oxygen, a reduction either during the day or at night.”
This morning, the Vatican issued a note to accredited Vatican media informing them that Pope Francis had spent “a restful” 26th night in Rome’s Gemelli Hospital, as he had all through the past week.
Two days earlier, on March 10, his doctors announced that since his situation remains stable and has shown slight improvements, they concluded that his prognosis was no longer guarded, as there was no imminent danger to his life. Nevertheless, they said, he still needs to spend more time in the hospital to fully recover from the double pneumonia for which he has been treated since Feb. 14.
Today, his 27th day in the hospital, the pope continued with the medical program prescribed by his doctors, which includes pharmacological treatment, respiratory therapy and motor physiotherapy.
A tidal wave of prayer for the recovery of Pope Francis has been sweeping across the world ever since he was admitted to hospital on Feb.14, not only from the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics but also from other Christians, members of other religions and those who profess no religion.
Cardinal Robert McElroy, at the end of Mass for his installation as archbishop of Washington on March 11, invited the congregation of cardinals, bishops, priests, women and men religious and lay people present to join together in praying a decade of the Rosary for Pope Francis.
Across the world at the Camillian Pastoral Center in Bangkok, Thailand, Cardinal Pablo Virgilio David, the president of the Catholic Bishop’s Conference of the Philippines, likewise offered Mass in thanksgiving for his priestly ordination anniversary and “for the healing and recovery of Pope Francis” as he attended a meeting of the central committee of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences on March 12.
In Rome, Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonça, the prefect of the Vatican Dicastery for Culture and Education, celebrated Mass on the evening of March 12 at the Portuguese National Church in Rome “for the health of Pope Francis.”
In South Africa, Cardinal Stephen Brislin, the new archbishop of Johannesburg and president of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference, celebrated Mass in the Cathedral of Christ the King in central Johannesburg on March 2 for the health and recovery of the pope.
“We come to pray for him because he is our leader, our shepherd. Yet he does not only belong to us, he belongs to the world,” he said in his homily. “People of different Christian denominations, people of other faiths and people of no faith at all recognize in Pope Francis a most remarkable and strong leader, a leader with vision at a time in the world when there is a vacuum of visionary and inspiring leaders.”
Commenting on "the global response to his illness,” he said on television, “[this] reflects his impact not only on the Catholic Church but also as a respected leader known for his integrity and willingness to speak the truth.”
Children, too, are sending the pope good will messages and drawings, both from Gemelli Hospital and from Rome’s Bambino Gesú pediatric hospital, as the Vatican Media has reported. One child named Eugenio, from the Bambino Gesú, wrote to Francis saying, “Dear Pope, I advise you to read many books!” Another boy named Alex from the same hospital encouraged him “to let someone give you a Playstation.”
Bishops’ conferences and the faithful across Latin America have been praying for the health and recovery of the first Latin American pope since he was admitted to the hospital on Feb. 14
Tomorrow, March 13, will mark the 12th anniversary of the election of Pope Francis, the first Argentine and the first Jesuit pope. Archbishop Marcelo Colombo, the archbishop of Mendoza and the president of the Argentine Bishops’ Conference, sent a letter to the country’s bishops asking them to celebrate “a Mass of Thanksgiving” for the pope on this day. A Mass will also be celebrated for the same reason in the church of Santa Maria Addolorata, the Argentine national church in Rome.
