ROME (TIP): Pope Francis continued to improve from double pneumonia February 27, the Vatican said, working from his hospital room and going to his private chapel to pray, though doctors said he needs more days of “clinical stability” before they revise their guarded prognosis.
The 88-year-old pope, who had part of one lung removed as a young man, was able to begin alternating high-flow supplemental oxygen, delivered by a nasal tube, with a mask in a sign of his improved respiratory condition, the Vatican said in a late update.
For the second day in a row, doctors avoided saying Francis was in critical condition. But they said that given the complexity of his lung infection, “further days of clinical stability are needed” before they revise their prognosis and decide he is out of danger.
Francis has been in Rome’s Gemelli hospital since Feb. 14 after a bout of bronchitis worsened.
He has shown steady, albeit slight improvements since a respiratory crisis and kidney trouble over the weekend sparked fears for his life. The improvements, as he nears the two-week mark on Friday, beat back speculation of an imminent death, resignation or conclave and signaled that he was still very much in charge.
Nevertheless, his near-term upcoming calendar of events was being changed: The Vatican cancelled a Holy Year audience scheduled for Saturday, and it remained to be seen if Francis would skip his Sunday noon blessing for the third week in a row. Longer term, Ash Wednesday loomed on the horizon March 5, the start of the church’s Lenten season leading up to Holy Week and Easter, which this year falls on April 20.
In past years, when Francis has battled bronchitis and influenza in winter, he has had to cut back his participation in Ash Wednesday and Holy Week events, which call for the pope to be outdoors in the cold leading services, participating in processions and presiding over prayers in the solemn period in which the faithful commemorate Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection. (AP)