[Trending News] Doctors clarify that the Pope is not “life danger”, but admit that situation remains serious – agency Ecclesia

Responsible predict that hospitalization is extended for next week

Rome, 21 Feb 2025 (Ecclesia) – Surgeon Sergio Alfari, who coordinates the team that treats the Pope at GEMelli Hospital, said today that Francisco does not run “danger of life” immediately, but admitted that the situation remains serious .

“The question is: Is the Pope out of danger? No, the Pope is not out of danger. The door is open to both possibilities [cura ou agravamento]”He told reporters at a press conference that lasted more than half an hour.

“Ask if you are in danger of dying right now, the answer remains no. It passed now, 20 minutes ago, it was from your room to the chapel to pray. But realistically, the situation is this, ”he added.

The Italian doctor, who operated Francisco in June 2023, underlined the severity of bilateral pneumonia, with “important” polymicrobial infection, caused by viruses, fungi and bacteria.

Underlining that the pontiff breathes autonomously, without being linked to “to any machine” and that it occasionally receives supplementary oxygen, Sergio Alfari highlighted the pope's “good mood”, adding that “is not charmed.”

“The Pope knows that it is in danger,” he said, noting that the greatest fear of the medical team is that pulmonary infection can cause a “sepsis”.

“Today there is no, these days did not have,” he needed to stress that the infection is contained.

Pneumonia remains present “in the right lung and left lung.”

The Pope was hospitalized on February 14 at the Gemelli Hospital in Rome, due to breathing problems.

Asked about the planned time of hospitalization, Sergio Alfari pointed out that Francisco will continue in the hospital “at least all next week”, avoiding a return to Santa Marta, where he would be tempted to maintain his work routine.

The official was accompanied at the press release by the doctor Luigi Carbone, who accompanies the Pope in the house of Santa Marta, where he resides.

“At this moment we do not consider it prudent [o regresso]”Said Sergio Alfari, stressing that pneumonia require time for recovery.

“Papa reads, signs documents, jokes, but still has bilateral pneumonia, pneumonia take a long time to recover. How long will it be here? When it is necessary to manage hospital treatment, ”he continued.

The surgeon pointed out that Francisco is “much better” in relation to the moment he entered the hospital and justified the absence of images of the pontiff during hospitalization with the necessary “privacy”.

“Let's help you right now. Let us not make headlines that do not make sense or false news. The bulletins only tell the truth, ”he told reporters.

“The Holy Father always wanted us to say the truth,” he insisted.

Alfari was convinced that the “acute” part will be resolved, adding that the chronic part of the Pope's problems will be managed at his residence.

“The Pope will be discharged and will return to Santa Marta,” he said.

Luigi Carbone, a doctor who follows Francisco under the supervision of Massimiliano Strapetti, a Pope's nurse and personal assistant at the Vatican, also spoke to journalists, noting that this is a “fragile patient”, 88.

“As we have already written in previous communications, it has a chronic pathology that is bronchiectasia, with asthmatic bronchitis that can have acute phases,” he said.

Asked about future consequences of this hospitalization, the doctor maintained that the priority of the entire team is “overcoming this phase” and that the Pope is “responding to treatments”.

As for the Angelus next Sunday, none of those responsible wanted to advance whether Francis could recite him from his room or on the porch, in the image of what happened in the previous three internments.

“This is a decision of the Pope,” said Alfari, adding that there will be a new assessment this Saturday.

The surgeon also wanted to mention that the pontiff “has a strong heart” and that, apart from breathing problems, “there is no other pathologies.”

The official also justified the absence of visits with the severity of bilateral pneumonia.

The Holy See's Press Room dismissed this afternoon that the Pope had met last Thursday with Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, and with the Jesuit Cardinal Gianfranco Ghirlanda.

This Wednesday, Francisco was diagnosed with bilateral pneumonia, which requires new treatments, in a clinical picture defined as “complex”.

OC

News Updated at 6:30 pm

The Pope is on the 10th floor of the Agostino Gemelli University Hospital that previously received him, as well as St. John Paul II, on seven occasions. The fourth hospitalization of the current pontiff began on February 14, following the “exacerbation of bronchitis” that had been affecting him, according to the Vatican's official note. Already on March 29 2023, Francisco had been admitted to Gemelli, because of a respiratory infection, having received discharge on 1 April. The same hospital would receive it, three months later, for an operation to an abdominal hernia, having been hospitalized from 7 to 16 June. On July 4, 2021, also at Gemelli Hospital, the Pope had been subjected to another intervention because of a “symptomatic stenosis of the colon”, remaining hospitalized for ten days. Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 88, is a native of Buenos Aires, Argentina; In his youth, he was operated on a partially removed lung. On March 13, 2013 he was elected as successor to Benedict XVI, choosing the unprecedented name of Francisco; He is the first Jesuit Pope in the history of the Catholic Church and also the first South American Pontiff.

Vatican: “Papa rested well,” said the Holy See this Saturday