The Vatican celebrated the Holy Year without a pope on Saturday, with Pope Francis battling pneumonia and complex respiratory infections, which doctors say will keep touch and move and will keep him hospitalized for at least a week .
Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said in a brief update on Saturday that Francis slept well overnight.
But doctors warn that the main threat Francis, 88, will be the onset of sepsis, a serious blood infection that may be a complication of pneumonia. As of Friday, there was no evidence of any sepsis and Francis was responding to the various drugs he was taking, the pope’s medical team said in the first in-depth update on the papacy’s condition.
“He is not at risk,” said Dr. Luigi Carbone, his personal doctor. “So, like all vulnerable patients, I say they are always in the golden range: in other words, becoming imbalanced almost nothing.”
Francis, who has chronic lung disease, was admitted to hospital on February 14 after being treated for bronchitis for a week.
Doctors first diagnose complex viral, bacterial and fungal respiratory infections, and then diagnose pneumonia in both lungs. They prescribe “absolute rest” and combine cortisone with antibiotics and supplemental oxygen when needed.
Carbone, who organized care for him in the Vatican with Francis’s personal nurse Massimiliano Strappeti, admitted that even though he was sick, he insisted on staying in the Vatican to work “due to institutions and private commitments.” Prior to hospitalization, he was also cared for by cardiologists and infectious disease experts.
Dr. Sergio Alfieri, head of medicine and surgery at Gemelli Hospital in Rome, said the biggest threat Francis faces is that some bacteria currently located in his respiratory system have entered. Blood, causing sepsis. Sepsis can lead to organ failure and death.
“Sepsis really has a hard time getting out of the situation due to his breathing problems and age,” Alfieri said in a press conference in Gemelli on Friday. “The British said ‘knock the wood, ‘we say ‘touch the iron. Everyone touches what they want,” he said as he patted the microphone. “But in these cases, it’s the real risk: these bacteria are passed to the blood.”
“He knew he was in danger,” Alfiri added. “He told us to convey that.”
Meanwhile, the deacons are gathering in the Vatican to spend their special Jubilee weekend. Francis began to get sick in the holy year of the Vatican, which once had the quarterly Catholic celebrations. This weekend, Francis was supposed to celebrate the deacon, a ministry in the church, before the priesthood.
Holy Year organizers will celebrate Sunday’s Mass, the Vatican said. On the second weekend, Francis is expected to skip his traditional Sunday noon blessing, which he could have sent from Gemelli if he wanted.
“Look, even if he is not (physically) here, we know he is here.” said Luis Arnaldo Lopez Quirindongo, a deacon from Ponce, Puerto Rico, who Jubilee Year celebrations are held in the Vatican on Saturday. “He is recovering, but he is in our hearts, accompanying us because of our prayers.”
Apart from that, the doctor said Francis’ recovery will take time, whether he still has to return to the Vatican’s chronic breathing problems.
“He has to overcome this infection, and we all hope he can overcome it,” Alfiri said. “But the truth is, all the doors are open.”
