Pope Francis Shows Signs of Improvement Amid Pneumonia Battle

Adopt­ed from: The Asso­ci­at­ed Press

Post­ed: Feb 26, 2025 / 06:05 AM PST
Updat­ed: Feb 26, 2025 / 11:38 AM PST

ROME (AP) — Pope Fran­cis has demon­strat­ed fur­ther slight improve­ment as he con­tin­ues to fight dou­ble pneu­mo­nia, though doc­tors cau­tioned on Wednes­day that his con­di­tion remains seri­ous.

Accord­ing to a late update from the Vat­i­can, a chest CT scan per­formed on Tues­day evening indi­cat­ed the “nor­mal pro­gres­sion” of the infec­tion under treat­ment. The 88-year-old pon­tiff, who under­went surgery to remove part of one lung in his youth, is still rely­ing on high-flow sup­ple­men­tal oxy­gen. How­ev­er, he has not expe­ri­enced addi­tion­al res­pi­ra­to­ry crises since Sat­ur­day.

Blood tests, which pre­vi­ous­ly revealed low platelet counts and ane­mia, have shown improve­ment, and the mild kid­ney insuf­fi­cien­cy detect­ed ear­li­er has sub­sided, the state­ment not­ed.

The Vat­i­can also con­firmed for the first time that Fran­cis is under­go­ing res­pi­ra­to­ry phys­io­ther­a­py to help clear flu­id from his lungs.

A com­plex lung infec­tion has kept the pope in crit­i­cal con­di­tion at Rome’s Gemel­li hos­pi­tal since Feb­ru­ary 14. Fran­cis, who suf­fers from chron­ic lung dis­ease, was admit­ted after a severe bout of bron­chi­tis. Although doc­tors did not reit­er­ate his crit­i­cal con­di­tion in Wednesday’s update, they empha­sized that his prog­no­sis remains guard­ed, indi­cat­ing he is not yet out of dan­ger.

Despite his hos­pi­tal­iza­tion, Fran­cis resumed work from his hos­pi­tal room in the after­noon after receiv­ing the Eucharist in the morn­ing. In a sign that the Vatican’s oper­a­tions con­tin­ue, the Holy See announced the appoint­ment of four new bish­ops and the cre­ation of a new fundrais­ing ini­tia­tive to address its long­stand­ing finan­cial cri­sis.

While the bish­op appoint­ments and fundrais­ing norms were like­ly approved pri­or to his hos­pi­tal­iza­tion, their for­mal announce­ment sig­naled that Fran­cis remains active­ly involved in gov­ern­ing the Church.

Pil­grims Gath­er Near Hos­pi­tal to Sup­port the Pope

Out­side the hos­pi­tal, a steady stream of well-wish­ers has been leav­ing can­dles, bal­loons, and get-well cards at the stat­ue of St. John Paul II near the entrance of Gemel­li hos­pi­tal. The site has become a makeshift pil­grim­age des­ti­na­tion, par­tic­u­lar­ly for church groups vis­it­ing Rome for the Vatican’s Holy Year.

On Wednes­day, Bish­op Ger­ar­do Vil­la­lon­ga of Menor­ca, Spain, led a group of 50 pil­grims to the stat­ue, express­ing their desire to be close to the ail­ing pope.

“When a fam­i­ly mem­ber is ill, it’s cru­cial to sur­round them with sup­port. The peo­ple of God must stand by the pope dur­ing this time,” Vil­la­lon­ga said.

In the evening, trum­peter Felice Carel­la and singer Davide Capuano per­formed Schubert’s Ave Maria beneath the pope’s hos­pi­tal win­dow.

“This isn’t just a song; it’s a heart­felt prayer for the pope’s recov­ery,” Capuano said. “These are dif­fi­cult days, and I hope the world joins us in pray­ing for him.”

Car­di­nal Re to Lead Prayer Vig­il

Mean­while, Car­di­nal Gio­van­ni Bat­tista Re, dean of the Col­lege of Car­di­nals, has been cho­sen to lead a prayer vig­il in St. Peter’s Square on Wednes­day night. This deci­sion high­lights the role of a key fig­ure in the event of a future con­clave. Fran­cis recent­ly extend­ed Re’s term as dean, main­tain­ing him in the influ­en­tial posi­tion despite his advanced age of 91.

As depict­ed in the Oscar-nom­i­nat­ed film Con­clave, the dean plays a piv­otal role in orga­niz­ing papal funer­als and con­claves. Re pre­vi­ous­ly served as pre­fect of the Vatican’s con­gre­ga­tion for bish­ops from 2000 to 2010, a role of sig­nif­i­cant pow­er and influ­ence. Fran­cis appoint­ed him dean in 2020 and reaf­firmed his posi­tion in Jan­u­ary.

In Rome, faith­ful from Fran­cis’ native Argenti­na gath­ered at the Argen­tine church for a spe­cial Mass led by Car­di­nal Bal­das­sarre Reina, the pope’s vic­ar for Rome. Reina also cel­e­brat­ed a mid­day Mass at Gemel­li hos­pi­tal to pray for Fran­cis’ recov­ery.

Sis­ter Nil­da Tre­jo, an Argen­tine nun, shared that she has always prayed for the pope, aware of his ongo­ing health chal­lenges.

“We knew he often strug­gled with breath­ing and speak­ing loud­ly,” she said. “At Mass, the micro­phone always had to be adjust­ed because he had dif­fi­cul­ty pro­ject­ing his voice. But he always spoke from the heart to the peo­ple.”