Vatican City:
Pope Francis, who was admitted to the hospital last week, developed pneumonia in both lungs, the Vatican said Tuesday, adding that the 88-year-old was in “good mood”.
“The laboratory tests, X -rays of the chest and the clinical state of the Holy Father continue to give a complex picture,” said the Vatican in a statement.
Francis was recorded in the Gemelli hospital of Rome for bronchitis last Friday, but the Vatican said on Monday that it changed his treatment after tests.
It said on Tuesday that a “polymicrobial infection” that has come on top of “bronchiectasis and asthmatic bronchitis, and that require the use of cortisone -antibiotic therapy, makes therapeutic treatment more complex”.
“The longitudinal box scan that the holy father underwent this afternoon … demonstrated the start of bilateral pneumonia, which required extra drug therapy,” said it.
The pope had a part of his right lung cut away when he was 21, after he had developed Pleurisy who almost killed him.
The Vatican had already canceled a papal audience on Saturday and said that he would not be missing on Sunday, although it still had to announce plans for his weekly Angelus prayer, held on Sunday.
“Nevertheless, Pope Francis is in a good mood,” it added.
The pope brought his fifth day to the hospital due to alternating rest with prayer and reading texts, the Vatican said.
Pilgrims pray
Francis, the head of the Catholic Church since 2013, was admitted to the hospital after struggling for a few days to read his texts in public.
It is the newest of a series of health problems for the Jesuit, which has been undergoing hernia and colon operation since 2021 and uses a wheelchair because of pain in his knee.
Among the pilgrims and tourists gathered on Tuesday at the Saint Peter’s Square, many said they pray for the recovery of the pope.
“I hope he gets better soon,” Birgit Jungreuthmayer, a 48-year-old Austrian tourist, told AFP.
Others gathered outside the Gemelli hospital, held candles or said prayers.
“I came to say a prayer for the Pope so that he can recover soon. I will send him my best wishes,” said Jacqueline Troncoso, a resident of Bolivian in Rome.
The Vatican published drawings of children in the hospital for Francis, as well as letters from parents who ask him to pray for their sick descendants.
Francis “Thank you for the proximity he feels at the moment and asks, with a grateful heart that we will continue to pray for him,” said it.
Active schedule
Despite his health problems, Francis remains a very active pope, with a busy weekly schedule and regular overseas trips.
In September 2024 he completed a four-country Asia-Pacific Tour, the longest of his papacy due to duration and distance.
A source within the entourage of the Pope had told AFP on Monday that Francis was admitted after a “very busy” two weeks, in which “he was weakened” – but insisted that there was no alarm.
Francis followed the mass of last Sunday on television from the hospital and sent a written address for the Angelus.
“I would have liked to be among you, but as you know, I am here in the Gemelli hospital because I still need treatment for my bronchitis,” Francis wrote.
The Jesuit has left the option open to resign if he could not perform his duties.
His predecessor, Benedict XVI, surprised the world in 2013 by becoming the first pope since the Middle Ages to resign, with reference to his distressing health.
But in a memoir that was published last year, Francis wrote that he “had no cause that was serious enough to make me think of resignation”.
Down Down is a “distant possibility” that would only be justified in the case of “a serious physical obstacle,” he wrote.
In an autobiography that was published last month, he said that despite his ailments “I go on”.
“The reality is, simply that I am old,” he said.
(Except for the headline, this story was not edited by NDTV staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.)