Pope Francis' health: still in critical condition, but there is a “slight improvement”
ROME – Despite the increasingly frenzied circulation of fake news that speak of an 88-year-old Pope as frail and dying, Monday’s medical report was a great sigh of relief for the thousands of Catholics around the world on tenterhooks: it indicated that Pope Francis, although still in critical condition and with a reserved prognosis, is slowly improving . He also had no respiratory crises on Monday, some laboratory tests have improved, his mild kidney failure is not worrying and he continues to receive oxygen through nasal cannulas, but with reduced flows; in addition, he has resumed his work activity and called the parish in Gaza. All more than positive signs.
“ The Holy Father’s clinical condition, which is still critical, is showing slight improvement ,” said the statement, which was released shortly after 6:30 p.m. - earlier than usual in recent weeks - and which also noted that for the second day in a row, also on Monday, “ there have been no episodes of asthmatic respiratory crises .” Other positive signs were that “ some laboratory tests have improved ,” that “ the monitoring of the slight renal insufficiency” that appeared the day before “is not a cause for concern ” and that “oxygen therapy continues, although with slightly reduced flow and percentage of oxygen.”
“The doctors, considering the complexity of the clinical picture, have not yet prudently decided on the prognosis,” they added, meaning that the prognosis remains reserved. And they spoke of a day that was clearly much better than the weekend: “in the morning he received the Eucharist, while in the afternoon he resumed his work activities” and later “he called the priest of the Gaza parish to express his paternal closeness,” they specified. According to reports, he wanted to thank a video sent to him by the Argentine priest Gabriel Romanelli, the parish priest of Gaza, whom he has been calling religiously for more than 15 months.
“Pope Francis thanks all the people of God who have gathered in recent days to pray for his health,” the statement concluded.
By morning, the situation had become calmer, even though the situation was complex. “ The night passed well, the Pope slept and is resting, ” said his spokesman, Matteo Bruni, shortly after 8 a.m. local time. Later, Vatican sources said that he was continuing with his therapy and was in “ good spirits.”
In the midst of a climate of global alarm, information has once again calmed the tension, rumors and uncontrolled versions about the health of the Pope , who has been hospitalized since February 14 with bronchitis that degenerated into bilateral pneumonia that entailed several other decompensations and a complex clinical picture for someone of his age. The same sources said that the Pope can move, sits in an armchair , eats normally and “is not in pain,” alluding to the “suffering” revealed on Saturday, the worst so far, when he had a prolonged asthmatic respiratory crisis and, in addition, was given blood transfusions. In addition, after two difficult days, he returned to some work activity, reading texts and signing documents.
Vatican sources, despite the better climate, confirmed that The Pope is not out of danger and time is needed to see how he evolves with the ongoing treatments. The next few days will be crucial.
Annalisa Bilotta, a doctor at the Salvator Mundi International Hospital in the capital, consulted by LA NACION about the medical report, stressed that it seemed “clear to her that the Pope is improving. “Although the doctors said that his prognosis is still reserved, they also said that he no longer had respiratory crises, that the blood tests are improving and that the slight renal insufficiency has not worsened,” she said. “So things seem to be a bit stationary, with some parameters that are improving because the therapies are slowly beginning to give results,” she added. “But we must keep in mind that everything is very slow in this type of situation,” she stressed.
Beyond the good news, it was once again a day plagued by rumours and versions of all kinds, always of a catastrophic nature, which generated a psychosis among the legion of Italian and international journalists who were on guard in front of the Gemelli hospital, under umbrellas and tents due to a cold and rainy day. From an X account, apparently linked to ultra-conservative American sectors, a version began to circulate according to which the Pope's medical team had said that he had "72 hours to live."
Paris Match, meanwhile, claimed that a medical department was being prepared for the Pope at the Gemelli hospital on Tiber Island and that he was being moved there, something that was immediately denied, as well as a version according to which all the cardinals had received a letter telling them to be ready to travel to Rome for the funeral of their supreme leader and the subsequent conclave to elect his successor.
Even German Cardinal Gerhard Muller, prefect emeritus of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith and a conservative cardinal who has always been very critical of the Pope of the end of the world, was quite upset by this climate. “The Pope is now alive and this is the time to pray, not to think about who will be his successor,” he said in an interview with Corriere della Sera. “If someone thinks about the future while Francis is in the hospital,” he added, “it is not right, it is not right at all.”
lanacion
