In the latest report on the health of Pope Francis, his doctors affirmed that his clinical condition “continues to remain stable” and “confirms the progress made over the last week.” In a Vatican report released on Saturday evening, March 15, Pope Francis’s medical team said the therapies that he is being given are producing “gradual improvements.”
The Vatican said the pope spent much time today—his 30th day in the hospital—doing “physiotherapy” and “praying” and “spent little time at work.” As on previous Sundays, the pope will not appear at his hospital window tomorrow, instead sending a written Angelus message that the Vatican will release at noon on Sunday, March 16.
He continues to receive “high-flow oxygen” during the day through nasal tubes. Doctors are also “progressively reducing the need for non-invasive mechanical ventilation at night,” meaning a reduction of the oxygen that he receives through the mask which he wears over his nose and mouth as he sleeps during the night. The doctors reaffirmed that Pope Francis “needs hospital medical therapy, both motor and respiratory physiotherapy” and reported that “at present, these therapies record further, gradual improvements.”
This was the first medical report on the pope’s condition in 72 hours, and his doctors said they do not anticipate releasing another update before next Tuesday or Wednesday (March 18 or 19), given that his condition is stable.
Dr. Anna Lisa Bilotta, who works at the Salvator Mundi International Hospital in Rome and is not treating the pope, told America that the latest report “is rather general but reassuring. His situation is stationary or stable, with gradual improvements; it does not show any big step forward, and does not significantly change the situation from previous days.”
“The fact that they are ‘progressively reducing’ the oxygen he receives at night is a good sign,” she said, but she noted “he is still receiving high-flow oxygen by day.”
She concluded, “The medical update was what we expected. The doctors are right not to give such updates every day as the situation is stable, the advances are always slow in an elderly patient like him—he is 88, and pneumonia can last a long time. The road ahead is still long. The rehabilitation will be long. We need to be patient.”
As Francis’ doctors explained in a medical update earlier this week, “he is no longer in imminent danger,” but his situation continues to be “complex” because of the various pathologies that he has as well as his age and the fact that a month in the hospital has also weakened him, even as it helps him to recover. His doctors have concluded that he needs to remain in the hospital for some more time to enable him to recover from the double pneumonia, and then will be able to return to the Vatican to continue his work with some reasonable precautions.
Pope Francis has retained his mental lucidity throughout his month-long stay in hospital, his doctors have confirmed in various updates, and he continues to govern the church from the hospital.
Cardinal Mario Grech, the secretary general of the secretariat of the synod, announced today that on March 11, Pope Francis had “definitively approved the start of a process of accompaniment and evaluation of the implementation phase [of the synod on synodality].” This is an important decision because, as stated in the synodal constitution, “Episcopalis Communio,” the entire synodal process has three phases. The first phase, “the listening phase,” started in Oct. 2021 and involved Catholic churches worldwide at the local, national and international levels. The second phase, “the celebratory phase,” involved the two sessions of the synod of bishops at the Vatican in Oct. 2023 and Oct.2024.
Now comes the third phase, “the implementation phase,” which as Cardinal Grech explained in a letter to the church leadership that the Vatican released today, will have various stages, starting again at local, national, regional and international levels and culminating in a first-ever post-synodal Ecclesial Assembly (something very different from a synod of bishops) to be held in the Vatican in October 2028. It marks a new and significant development in the process of building a synodal church.
Francis has also decided that there will be “a Jubilee of synodal teams and participatory bodies” in Rome from 24-26 October 2025. This is a new event in the agenda for the Jubilee Year now underway.
In an interview on the third phase of the synodal process, Cardinal Grech explained that the process will be guided and accompanied by the General Secretariat of the Synod. America will provide a full report on this in the coming days.
