TJ Manotoc

Pope not out of danger, doctors say, amid questions over future

Pope Francis saying a prayer in an undated photo from the Vatican

Article (news)

Agence France-Presse

<p>Pope Francis, in hospital with pneumonia, is not out of danger and will have to stay at least another week, his doctors said Friday amid questions over the 88-year-old&#x27;s future as head of the Catholic Church.</p><p>Francis, who was admitted last Friday with breathing difficulties, has been slightly improving, allowing doctors to incrementally lower the amount of medication he is taking, Professor Sergio Alfieri said.</p><p>&quot;The question is, is the pope out of danger? No, the pope is not out of danger,&quot; Alfieri told a press conference at Rome&#x27;s Gemelli hospital.</p><p>&quot;If you then ask whether he is in danger of dying at this moment, the answer is still no,&quot; he added.</p><p>What began as bronchitis developed into double pneumonia, causing widespread alarm, and fuelling speculation over Francis&#x27;s ability to continue as head of the world&#x27;s almost 1.4 billion Catholics.</p><p>Alfieri said &quot;the real risk in these cases is that the germs pass into the blood&quot;, which could result in sepsis, a life-threatening condition.</p><p>Doctor Luigi Carbone said the pope, who had part of one of his lungs removed as a young man, now has a chronic lung condition and &quot;is by definition a fragile patient&quot;.</p><p>But Alfieri stressed that &quot;when we say that the pope is fragile, at the same time, he has incredible resilience.</p><p>&quot;How many others would have endured all these infections with the workload he has?&quot;</p><div><br/></div><div><iframe class="instagram-media instagram-media-rendered" id="instagram-embed-2" src="https://www.instagram.com/p/DGWFu_KtwSL/embed/captioned/?cr=1&amp;v=14&amp;wp=1080&amp;rd=https%3A%2F%2Fod2-workbench-web.abs-cbn.com&amp;rp=%2F#%7B%22ci%22%3A2%2C%22os%22%3A5747550%7D" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="" frameBorder="0" height="904" data-instgrm-payload-id="instagram-media-payload-2" scrolling="no" style="background:white;max-width:540px;width:calc(100% - 2px);border-radius:3px;border:1px solid rgb(219, 219, 219);box-shadow:none;display:block;margin:0px 0px 12px;min-width:326px;padding:0px"></iframe></div><script async="" src="//www.instagram.com/embed.js"></script><p>- &#x27;In good spirits&#x27; -</p><div><br/></div><p>Francis, who is staying in a special papal suite on the 10th floor of the Gemelli hospital, has been moving between his bed, a chair and an adjacent chapel where he prays.</p><p>He will remain in hospital &quot;at least for all next week&quot;, Alfieri said.</p><p>&quot;If we send him to Santa Marta (his home at the Vatican), he&#x27;ll start working again as before.</p><p>&quot;So we&#x27;re keeping him here. We&#x27;re keeping him here so that when he goes back to Santa Marta, it&#x27;ll be harder for him to overdo it.&quot;</p><p>Asked if the pope would be well enough to lead the Angelus prayer from his hospital window this Sunday, Alfieri said &quot;the pope will decide&quot;.</p><p>Francis has difficulty breathing but is &quot;in good spirits&quot;, and still has the wit of &quot;a 70-year-old, maybe a 50-year-old&quot;, Alfieri added.</p><p>&quot;This morning I said &#x27;Good morning, Holy Father!&#x27; And he with a grin replied &#x27;Good Morning Holy Son!&quot; he said.</p><div><br/></div><div><iframe class="instagram-media instagram-media-rendered" id="instagram-embed-4" src="https://www.instagram.com/p/DF8kzvlTRBP/embed/captioned/?cr=1&amp;v=14&amp;wp=1080&amp;rd=https%3A%2F%2Fod2-workbench-web.abs-cbn.com&amp;rp=%2F#%7B%22ci%22%3A4%2C%22os%22%3A5804616%7D" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="" frameBorder="0" height="1221" data-instgrm-payload-id="instagram-media-payload-4" scrolling="no" style="background:white;max-width:540px;width:calc(100% - 2px);border-radius:3px;border:1px solid rgb(219, 219, 219);box-shadow:none;display:block;margin:0px 0px 12px;min-width:326px;padding:0px"></iframe></div><script async="" src="//www.instagram.com/embed.js"></script><p>- &#x27;Bad luck!&#x27; -</p><div><br/></div><p>But in Francis&#x27;s absence from the Vatican, questions are being raised over the future of a leader with a punishing schedule who has been increasingly plagued by health issues in recent years.</p><p>&quot;I know that some out there say my time has come, they are always bringing me bad luck!&quot; Francis quipped to Italy&#x27;s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni when she visited him on Thursday, Italian media reported.</p><p>The Argentine is no stranger to the plotting and scheming his health woes inevitably prompt among those keen to get their man in as next pope.</p><p>After undergoing colon surgery in 2021, he joked to a group of Jesuits that &quot;I&#x27;m still alive. Even though some wanted me dead&quot;.</p><p>&quot;They were preparing the conclave,&quot; he said, in reference to the meeting of cardinals to elect a new pope after a death or resignation.</p><p>Francis has also undergone hernia surgery in the past four years, is overweight and suffers constant hip and knee pain, which force him to use a wheelchair most of the time.</p><p>&quot;I love this Pope immensely&quot;, Gege Gerald, a deacon from Switzerland, told AFP in St Peter&#x27;s Square, summing up the feelings of many faithful.</p><p>&quot;I know he has done a lot of good for the Church, and he will do even more,&quot; he said.</p><p>However, Francis is also one of the oldest popes ever -- and though he has said the job is for life, the pope has left the door open to resigning like his predecessor Benedict XVI.</p><div><br/></div><p>- &#x27;Vital function&#x27; -</p><div><br/></div><p>Italian Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi told the Corriere della Sera on Friday he did not rule out Francis stepping down.</p><p>&quot;Francis himself has said he had already signed a letter of resignation at the beginning of his pontificate,&quot; he said.</p><p>The fact that &quot;a fundamental vital function such as breathing&quot; was compromised complicates the matter, Ravasi told the newspaper.</p><p>&quot;The knee is one thing, but if one feels that the entire body is in difficulty, it&#x27;s another thing.&quot;</p><p>French Cardinal Jean-Marc Aveline also said that while &quot;completely confident in the lucidity of the pope&quot;, he would not rule out a resignation.</p><p>&quot;If he considers that it is the best thing for the good of the Church, he will do it,&quot; he told journalists on Thursday.</p><p>But Cardinal Jean Claude Hollerich of Luxembourg said Francis certainly would not bow to pressure from his opponents to quit.</p><p>&quot;The resignation will depend on how the pope recovers. The decision is up to Francis alone,&quot; he was quoted by the AGI news agency as saying.</p>

<p>Pope Francis, in hospital with pneumonia, is not out of danger and will have to stay at least another week, his doctors said Friday amid questions over the 88-year-old's future as head of the Catholic Church.</p>

Pope Francis, in hospital with pneumonia, is not out of danger and will have to stay at least another week, his doctors said Friday amid questions over the 88-year-old's future as head of the Catholic Church.