Pope Francis is now settling back in his apartment in Santa Marta, the Vatican guesthouse where he has lived since his election, two days after his discharge from Rome’s Gemelli Hospital after 38 days while being treated for double pneumonia. He is very happy to be back home, Vatican sources said.
He has begun the “at least two months period of rest and convalescence” prescribed by his doctors, Matteo Bruni, the Vatican spokesperson, told journalists just before midday on Tuesday, March 25, and is following a triple therapy: pharmacological (oral medicines), respiratory and physiotherapy. He is being cared for by his nurses 24/7, and assisted by his private secretaries. The pope has not received any outside visitors yet, Mr. Bruni said, but he concelebrated Mass this morning in his private chapel on the second floor of Santa Marta, where he lives.
Apart from the update on the pope’s situation, the breaking news in Rome today came from Dr. Sergio Alfieri, the coordinator of the medical team that cared for the pope in Gemelli Hospital and the surgeon who operated on him in 2021 and 2023. In an interview with Corriere della Sera, the leading Italian daily, published today, March 25, he revealed much of what happened to the pope during his 38 days in the hospital, and described in some detail the two critical situations where the pope came close to death.
The first critical situation occurred on Feb. 22, when the pope had a bronchial spasm; he struggled to breathe and asked for help. Professor Alfieri described that as “the worst moment. It was ugly.”
“For the first time I saw tears in the eyes of some people around him—persons who, I understood in this period of hospitalization, sincerely love him, like a father. We were all aware that the situation had further worsened and there was a risk that he would not make it.”
Dr. Alfieri said, “We had to choose whether to stop and let him go, or to force and try all possible drugs and therapies, running the very high risk of damaging other organs. And in the end we took this path.”
Asked who made the decision to take that path, Dr. Alfieri said, “The Holy Father always decides,” but he has also “ delegated every type of health choice to Massimiliano Strappetti, his personal health assistant, who knows perfectly the pope’s wishes.” He [Massimiliano] told the doctors, “Try everything, let’s not give up. That’s what we all thought too. And no one gave up.”
Asked whether the pope knew he was in danger of dying, Dr. Alfieri said: “Yes, also because he was always alert. Even when his condition worsened, he was fully conscious. That evening was terrible. He knew, like us, that he might not make it through the night. We saw the man suffering.”
“For days we risked damage to the kidneys and spinal cord but we went on. Then the body responded to treatment and the lung infection subsided,” he recalled, saying that “in the most difficult period,” the pope “held his hand for a few minutes, as if seeking comfort.” Dr. Alfieri told the Italian newspaper, “from day one he [the pope] asked us to tell him the truth, and he wanted us to tell the truth about his condition.”
Dr. Alfieri also had the task of communicating the pope’s situation to the outside world (via the Vatican press office) after consultation with the members of the medical team. He explained why the medical reports were so detailed: “We communicated the medical part to the [pope’s] secretaries and they added the other information that the pope then approved, nothing was ever modified or omitted. He has people who are now like family, they are always with him.”
The second critical situation with regard to the pope’s health occurred just as he was emerging from the first, Dr. Alfieri said: “We were coming out of the hardest period, while he was eating Pope Francis had a regurgitation and inhaled. It was the second really critical moment because in these cases, if not promptly rescued, there is a risk of sudden death as well as complications to the lungs which were already the most compromised organs. It was terrible, we really thought we couldn’t make it.”
Dr. Alfieri said that “in the past, when we talked, I asked him how he manages to keep up this pace and he always replied: ‘I have a method and rule.’” The doctor added, “Besides having a very strong heart, he has incredible resources. I think the fact that the whole world was praying for him also contributed to this.”
“In this case the whole world started to pray [for him]. I can say that on two occasions the situation was lost and then it happened like a miracle,” he continued. “Of course, he was a very cooperative patient. He underwent all the therapies without ever complaining.”
In the interview, the Italian doctor recalled that before Pope Francis was admitted to hospital on Feb. 14, “He had been sick for days, but he resisted because he probably wanted to respect the commitments of the Jubilee.” However, “When he began to breathe more and more laboriously, he realized that he could not wait any longer. He arrived at the Gemelli in great pain, but perhaps also a little annoyed. But in a few hours he regained his good humor.”
The doctor recalled that once he greeted the pope by saying, “Good morning Holy Father,” and Francis replied, “Good morning, holy son!” He remarked, “it was his humor, but above all the demonstration of his human soul. “ He said the pope often said, “ I am still alive” and would add, “Do not forget to live and maintain good humor.”
“As soon as he began to feel better, he asked to go around the ward. We asked him if he wanted us to close the patients’ rooms but he, on the contrary, sought the look [on the faces] of the other patients,” Dr. Alfieri said. “He moved around in a wheelchair. One day he left the room five times, maybe even more.” One evening, he said, Pope Francis gave money to one of his assistants and offered pizza to those who had helped him that day.
Pope Francis, now 88, “has a tired physique, but the head is that of a fifty-year-old,” Dr. Alfieri said. While the pope knew during his illness that many believed he was dying, “he was always informed of what was happening and always reacted with the usual irony.”
Dr. Alfieri added: “I realized that he had decided to return to Santa Marta when, one morning, he said to me: ‘I am still alive, when are we going home?’ The next day [last Sunday], Pope Francis appeared at the window, looked for the microphone and turned to the lady with the yellow flowers. To me it seemed like a clear signal to say I’m back and I’m of sound mind.”
The doctors have prescribed a two month period of “protected” convalescence for the pope, during which he will continue to take prescriptions and is supposed to avoid contact with groups of people or with children “who can be a vehicle for new infections.” The doctor revealed that before Francis left the hospital, “we talked to each other and promised not to waste the effort made.” But, he added, “he is the pope, we are not the ones who can dictate behavior.”
Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican secretary of state, told journalists yesterday: “Now he will need to convalesce, to be calm and not to be too disturbed.” He recalled that even when Pope Francis was in the hospital, he did some work, and said he expects that to continue. The cardinal and Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra, the Vatican chief of staff, visited the pope at least twice in the hospital and brought him dossiers from the Vatican for his approval. But, the cardinal said, “for the time being, only the most important questions will be submitted to the pope, questions that require a decision on his part, also so as not to tire him too much. Then, as he recovers, we will return to normal rhythm and programming.”
“[His workload] will depend on the recovery he makes, and based on that, the doctors will judge what is possible or not [for him to do],” Cardinal Parolin continued. The cardinal does not see the pope holding Wednesday general audiences in the immediate future, or being present at the next Jubilee events. He said he thought an exception could be made on April 8, when King Charles III and Queen Camilla visit the Vatican: “I hope that at least he can give them a greeting.”
This afternoon, March 25, however, Buckingham Palace announced that the king and queen have postponed their state visit to the Vatican, after doctors said the pope needed to rest following his hospitalization. Buckingham Palace said the wider state visit of the king and queen to Italy will go forward in April.
The visit to the Vatican was postponed by “mutual agreement,” according to a statement released by Buckingham Palace. It said, “Their Majesties send The Pope their best wishes for his convalescence and look forward to visiting him in The Holy See, once he has recovered.”
A senior Vatican source confirmed this for America and said he expected other state visits also to be postponed by mutual agreement for the coming two months while the pope is in convalescence.
Thus far, nobody is making any predictions regarding what may happen in Holy Week and Easter.
