Ailing Pope Resting Amid Slight Improvement – Vatican
A critically ill Pope Francis, battling pneumonia in both lungs, slept well, the Vatican said Tuesday after earlier reporting a “slight improvement” in the health of the 88-year-old.
The Argentine pontiff, who had breathing problems and bronchitis, was admitted to Rome’s Gemelli hospital on February 14th, but his condition has sincegotten worse, and the faithful have been praying for his well-being.
“The Pope rested well, all night long”, said the Vatican in a morning update on the 12th day of the pope’s hospital stay.
The Holy See issued a more hopeful statement Monday evening, saying that the pope’s “critical clinical conditions… demonstrate a slight improvement”.
Francis, according to the report, had not experienced any “high-flow oxygen”-related respiratory crises like those that occurred on Saturday. It said some laboratory tests had improved.
However, the pope continues to be a “fragile patient,” as his doctor Luigi Carbone said on Friday, and his medical team has warned that it will take time for his drug treatments to work.
“Considering the complexity of the clinical picture”, his doctors have declined to “decide on the prognosis”, the Vatican said Monday.
Francis, who has a special papal suite on the 10th floor of the hospital, has continued to do some work, has moved from his bed to an armchair, and  , received the Eucharist in the morning.
On Monday night, hundreds of faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square to hear cardinals reciting their own prayers for Francis.
Former Council of Cardinals coordinator for the pope, Honduran Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga, stated to La Repubblica daily that he was optimistic that the pope would prevail.
“It’s not yet time for him to go to heaven”, Maradiaga said.
“He is someone who does not back down in the face of difficulty, does not get discouraged, does not freeze, and does not stop moving forward”, he told the paper.
 , ‘Breath of fresh air ‘
Well-wishers have left candles and photos outside the hospital, where a special prayer Monday was led by Gemelli’s chaplain.
Hundreds of Argentines prayed for the pontif in Buenos Aires, where the former Jorge Bergoglio served as archbishop before becoming pope in 2013.
Speaking in the plaza where Bergoglio used to rail against injustice and inequality, Archbishop Jorge Garcia Cuerva called Francis’s papacy “a breath of oxygen for a world suffocated by violence, suffocated by selfishness, suffocated by exclusion”.
He said, “Let our prayer be that his lungs receive that fresh air so that he can recover from his health.”
Tuesday night at a Rome-based church will hold special adoration for Francis.
World leaders have also sent out support messages.
At the White House Monday, US President Donald Trump called the pope’s health “a very serious situation”.
“But we do want him to get well if that’s possible”, Trump told reporters as he met France’s President Emmanuel Macron.
In Venezuela, President Nicolas Maduro said he had sent the pope a letter “expressing all our admiration”, calling Francis “the ethical leader of humanity… loved by all religions”.
 , Recovery time
Doctors have warned that any recovery will take time, and Francis’ hospitalization is likely to go on beyond this week.
The pope, a young man who had one lung removed, has since experienced more health issues. He frequently has knee and hip pain, which has made him rely on a wheelchair, and he also has asthma.
According to Massimo Andreoni, scientific director of the Italian Society of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, it takes a young person at least two weeks to recover from double pneumonia.
“For an older person like Pope Francis, with all the added complications… you have to wait even longer for a complete recovery”, Andreoni said.
Source: Channels TV
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