Europe

Pope Francis sitting upright and receiving therapy for double pneumonia, Vatican says

Doctors say Francis is not out of danger, but has had no further respiratory crises since Saturday

A woman visits a statue of Pope John Paul II to pray for Pope Francis outside Rome's Gemelli hospital. Photograph: James Hill/New York Times
A woman visits a statue of Pope John Paul II to pray for Pope Francis outside Rome's Gemelli hospital. Photograph: James Hill/New York Times
Wed Feb 26 2025 - 17:07

Pope Francis is sitting upright and receiving therapy for double pneumonia, the Vatican said in an update on his condition on Wednesday.

While Francis remains in a critical condition, the Vatican said that it hoped to have information later in the day about the results of a CAT scan taken on Tuesday evening to check on the status of the complex lung infection that has kept the 88-year-old pope in hospital since February 14th.

Francis has chronic lung disease and was admitted to Rome’s Gemelli hospital after a bout of bronchitis worsened.

The Vatican said the pope had a peaceful night and was up, sitting in his armchair on Wednesday receiving therapy.

READ SOME MORE

Doctors have said he is not out of danger, but has had no further respiratory crises since Saturday.

As Francis remains in hospital, the daily grind of the Vatican bureaucracy has been continuing in his absence.

On Wednesday the Vatican said Francis had appointed four new bishops and approved the creation of a new fundraising initiative to encourage donations to the Holy See, which has been enduring a financial crisis for years.

Francis likely approved the bishop appointments a while back and the new norms for the fundraising entity were approved on February 11th, before he was admitted to hospital.

The hospital in Rome has seen a steady stream of wellwishers. Photograph: AP
The hospital in Rome has seen a steady stream of wellwishers. Photograph: AP

But the announcements made them official and suggested Francis is still very much in charge and governing.

If he were to look out the hospital window from the 10th floor, he might see that a steady stream of wellwishers are lighting candles and leaving him get-well cards at the statue of St John Paul II near the Gemelli entrance.

It has become something of a makeshift pilgrimage destination, especially for church groups in town for the Vatican’s Holy Year.

On Wednesday, Bishop Gerardo Villalonga from Menorca, Spain, led a group of 50 pilgrims to the site, saying they wanted to be as close to him as possible.

“Because when a family has someone who is sick it is very important that they are surrounded, it is necessary that everyone is near to them, and all the people of God are close the pope,” he said.

The dean of the College of Cardinals, meanwhile, was designated to lead the Vatican’s prayer vigil in St Peter’s Square on Wednesday night, thrusting a key figure in a future possible conclave into the spotlight.

[ The complex medical factors undermining the health of Pope Francis ]

Francis recently extended the term of Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re (91), keeping him in the important job rather than naming someone new. The dean is a key point of reference for cardinals, presides over a papal funeral and organises the conclave to elect a new pope.

From 2000-2010, Cardinal Re was prefect of the Vatican’s congregation for bishops, one of the most powerful and influential positions in the Holy See. Francis made him dean in 2020 and confirmed him in the job in January despite the expiration of his five-year term. – AP