Pope Francis spent his tenth day in the hospital on Sunday as Catholics all over the world prayed for his recovery, the day after the Vatican issued a warning about the 88-year-old’s critical condition.
The Argentine pontiff, who is receiving treatment for double pneumonia, needed blood transfusions for a low platelet count after a protracted asthma-style attack on Saturday.
On Sunday morning the Holy See said “the night passed peacefully, the pope rested” — indicating no repeat of the crisis the previous day, Vatican sources said.
Francis, a young man who had a lung removed when he was a child, is still breathing through a tube in his nostrils in Rome’s Gemelli hospital’s papal suite.
The Jesuit expressed his gratitude to the hospital staff and expressed his confidence in his treatment in a message that was published on Sunday but was written over the weekend.
Rest is a component of the therapy, and I can confidently continue my stay in the Gemelli Hospital while I get ready for it. he said.
Instead of his weekly Sunday Angelus, which he typically delivers from a window with a view of St. Peter’s Square, he wrote, “I ask you to pray for me.”
READ ALSO: Pope Suffers Respiratory Attack, Condition Critical — Vatican
Suffering more ,
Francis, who has been head of the Catholic Church since 2013, was admitted on February 14 initially with bronchitis, but his condition has deteriorated since then.
In its evening update Saturday, the Vatican warned his “condition continues to be critical, therefore the pope is not out of danger”.
It stated that Francis was alert and “spent the day in an armchair even if” he was suffering more than the previous day.
He was cited as having a “prolonged asthmatic respiratory crisis that necessitated the use of high-flow oxygen.”
Daily blood tests also “showed thrombocytopenia, associated with anaemia, which required the administration of blood transfusions”, it added.
When the platelet count in the blood is low, which can cause trouble stopping bleeding, is a condition known as thrombocytopenia.
According to the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), blood or platelet transfusions are given to those who are bleeding heavily or are in high risk of bleeding.
“The pope gets worse”, headlined Italy’s Corriere della Sera newspaper on Sunday, while La Repubblica described it as the “darkest day” at the Vatican.
Prayers for the Pope ,
Since Francis was admitted, well-wishers have been lighting the Gemelli’s entrance, and a special mass was planned for Sunday evening in Rome.
“I am praying for him, for his health, because he is a special person for all of us”, Italian teacher Ilde Zito told AFP at the hospital.
The nearly 1.4 billion Catholics around the world, along with other Christians and world leaders, also sent out prayers and solidarity messages.
In the cathedral of Buenos Aires, where Francis was once archbishop, TV screens at the entrance showed images of then Jorge Bergoglio’s good works, and the priest held a special mass.
“He is strong, he has always been strong, but there is nature. He is old and very ill, I am aware. I hope he recovers, but it makes me sad”, Hector Armando Diaz, 76, a retired sales clerk, told AFP there.
At least a dozen churches prayed for him in Mosul, a former bastion of the Islamic State, which was located in northern Iraq, in 2021.
“This is the least we can do to express our solidarity, love, and appreciation for this great person”, said university professor Adnan Hadi.
Mexico’s president, Claudia Sheinbaum, offered her hopes on social media for a speedy recovery for the “great humanist” Francis, the first pope from the Americas.
Francis’ continued hospitalization has sparked both rumors about possible resignation and concerns for his health.
He has always left the door open to following his predecessor, Benedict XVI, who in 2013 became the first pope since the Middle Ages to resign.
However, he has repeatedly stated that it was inappropriate.
The pope maintains a punishing work schedule. He carried out a mammoth 12-day tour to the Asia-Pacific in September, but has suffered increasing health issues.
He had a hernia operation two years later and colon surgery in 2021. He uses a wheelchair because he is overweight and suffers from constant hip and knee pain.
Source: Channels TV
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