“Pope Francis is well but is not out of danger yet” and will have to remain in the hospital “at least all next week,” two of his doctors said at a press briefing at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 21. Nevertheless, they said, “his life is not in danger right now.”
Sergio Alfieri, the surgeon who has twice operated on the pope, said Francis had asked them to give this briefing so that people can know his real situation after one week in the hospital. Moreover, he said, the daily briefings given to the press report the truth of his situation because the pope wants the truth to be told, not covered up.
Dr. Alfieri explained that Francis has “a chronic illness,” referring to his bronchitis, and bilateral pneumonia that requires hospital treatment and that this will take time. He said they will not allow him to return to the Vatican guesthouse where he lives before he overcomes the pneumonia.
Dr. Alfieri said the examinations done in the hospital show that the pope’s abdomen is “fine” and “his heart is strong.” He is breathing autonomously and is not attached to any apparatus. Sometimes, however, he uses an oxygen mask for a short while if he has breathing difficulties.
Pope Francis is “a false 88-year-old,” the doctor said, because “his mind is that of a 60- or 50-year-old.” He is alert, gets up and sits in the armchair, eats, reads texts and signs documents. “He is not bedridden,” and “is much better now than when he was admitted to hospital…but he is frail,” the doctor added.
He said Francis is full of good humor: When the doctor says “Good day, Holy Father,” the pope responds “Good day, Holy Son!” On another occasion, when the doctor bowed down to explain the results of the examinations, the pope quipped, “Do you want to go to confession?”
The doctors explained that he was first treated for chronic bronchitis and a resultant infection at Santa Marta by his expert nurse, Massimiliano Strappetti, and his doctor Luigi Carbone, who was present at the briefing with Dr. Alfieri. Dr. Carbone said they gave him cortisone to ease the infection and enable him to breathe better, but that treatment lowered his immune system, and the pope had to be given another drug to balance that. Dr. Alfieri said Francis got “excellent” treatment at Santa Marta, including visits from various doctors, one of whom is a cardiologist, but “the therapy was not easy” and eventually the infection reached a point where he had to be hospitalized.
Dr. Alfieri said that when the pope entered the hospital on Feb.14, the infection was in the respiratory tract only, but later doctors discovered that it had spread to both lungs, as was explained in last Monday’s medical report.
Dr. Alfieri explained that there are a variety of germs in the lungs; doctors have identified them clearly and are treating them, and the pope’s body is responding well to the therapy. But, he noted, “it takes little to cause a setback.” Hence the pope is not allowed visitors. His two priest secretaries are with him much of the time, and the doctor described the visit of Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni as “an exception.”
Dr. Carbone said the pope “is not out of danger yet” and explained that there is an additional risk that one or more of the germs currently in his lungs could get into the blood system, which could lead to sepsis, a very serious problem. So far, that has not happened, he said, but they are prepared for this eventuality and are ready to intervene with suitable drugs if it should happen.
Dr. Alfieri underlined that Pope Francis is a man of 88 years, with a chronic illness and pneumonia in both lungs and is receiving a significant quantity of medicine to enable him to overcome the pneumonia.
Dr. Carbone explained that his therapy has not been changed but has been intensified as required. He said the pope “is not one to give up.”
While Francis has admitted that he is an “impatient patient,” Dr. Alfieri said, “he does all that we tell him to do. He understands his situation. He knows he is in danger, and he wants that to be known.”
Dr. Alfieri said, “This morning he was better than yesterday, and he went to the chapel to pray for 20 minutes, but it takes little to change his condition.”
Asked if he would recite the Angelus from his hospital suite on Sunday, Dr. Alfieri said they would give him their advice tomorrow when they see how he is. “We can only advise him; he decides,” the doctor added.
Neither doctor would predict when he might return to Santa Marta, but both felt confident that he would be able to do so once his pneumonia had been overcome.
The doctors’ briefing this evening should help to counteract some of the speculation in the Italian media claiming that the pope is thinking of resigning, as one daily paper said today. Another paper reported that a campaign was underway to get the pope to resign, called “the Biden operation,” without saying who was involved. All such resignation talk appears to be without any solid foundation.
The speculation began yesterday when, as America reported, Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi told an Italian radio station that he thought Francis could resign if he were unable to communicate directly with people “as he loves to do,” adding he did not think that was the case yet.
A well-known priest commentator reported on Italian state television that Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the secretary of state, visited the pope yesterday with Cardinal Gianfranco Ghirlanda, S.J., the canon law expert, and suggested that this meeting was about the pope’s resignation. The Vatican later denied all this as fake news.
Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, the prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, who is very close to the pope, told La Nación, the Argentine daily: “It is not worth it for some groups to pressure for resignation. They tried many times in these last years, but this can only be a decision taken completely freely by the Holy Father if it is to be valid.”
The Argentine cardinal added: “For me what is important is that the pope’s body has reacted well to the current treatment. The signs of this positive reaction are objective: It is not only what one sees in his looks, but especially the results of the daily scientific tests.”
The Vatican press office reported at 8:30 a.m. this morning, Feb. 21, “The night went well, and this morning Pope Francis got up and had breakfast,” repeating more or less what had been said the past three mornings.
