Pope Francis was in critical condition Saturday after he suffered a protracted asthmatic respiratory crisis that required high flows of oxygen, the Vatican said.
The 88-year-old Francis, who has been hospitalized for per week with pneumonia and a fancy lung infection, also received blood transfusions after tests showed low counts of platelets, that are needed for clotting, related to anemia, the Vatican said in a late update.
“The Holy Father’s condition continues to be critical, subsequently, as explained yesterday (Friday), the Pope is just not out of danger,” the statement said. It was the primary time “critical” was used, in a written statement, to explain Francis’ condition.
The statement also said that the pontiff “continues to be alert and spent the day in an armchair although in additional pain than yesterday. For the time being the prognosis is reserved.”
Doctors have said Francis’ condition is touch-and-go and that he’s under no circumstances out of danger. The update, which is drafted by Francis’ medical team but issued by the Vatican, also marked the primary time the pope’s prognosis had been described as “reserved,” which suggests it’s in flux and requires close commentary.
Doctors have warned that the major threat facing Francis can be the onset of sepsis, a serious infection of the blood that may occur as a complication of pneumonia. As of Friday, there was no evidence of any sepsis, and Francis was responding to the assorted drugs he’s taking, the pope’s medical team said of their first in-depth update on the pope’s condition.
Francis, who has chronic lung disease, was admitted to Gemelli hospital on Feb. 14 after a weeklong bout of bronchitis worsened.
Doctors first diagnosed the complex viral, bacterial and fungal respiratory tract infection after which the onset of pneumonia in each lungs. They prescribed “absolute rest” and a mix of cortisone and antibiotics, together with supplemental oxygen when he needs it. Saturday’s update marked the primary time the Vatican has referred to Francis suffering an “asthmatic respiratory crisis of prolonged magnitude, which also required the appliance of oxygen at high flows.”
Dr. Sergio Alfieri, the pinnacle of medication and surgery at Rome’s Gemelli hospital, said Friday the largest threat facing Francis was that a few of the germs which are currently situated in his respiratory system pass into the bloodstream, causing sepsis. Sepsis can result in organ failure and death.
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“Sepsis, along with his respiratory problems and his age, can be really difficult to get out of,” Alfieri told a news conference Friday at Gemelli. “The English say ‘knock on wood,’ we are saying ‘touch iron.’ Everyone touch what they need,” he said as he tapped the microphone. “But that is the true risk in these cases: that these germs pass to the bloodstream.”
“He knows he’s in peril,” Alfieri added. “And he told us to relay that.”
Meanwhile, the Vatican hierarchy went on the defensive to tamp down rumors and speculation that Francis might resolve to resign. There is no such thing as a provision in canon law for what to do if a pope becomes incapacitated. Francis has said that he has written a letter of resignation that might be invoked if he were medically incapable of constructing such a call. The pope stays fully conscious, alert, eating and dealing.
The Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, gave a rare interview to Corriere della Sera to reply to speculation and rumors a few possible resignation. It got here after the Vatican issued an unusual and official denial of an Italian media report that said Parolin and the pope’s chief canonist had visited Francis within the hospital in secret. Given the canonical requirements to make a resignation legitimate, the implications of such a gathering were significant, however the Vatican flat-out denied that any such meeting occurred.
Parolin said such speculation seemed “useless” when what really mattered was the health of Francis, his recovery and return to the Vatican.
“However, I feel it is kind of normal that in these situations uncontrolled rumors can spread or some misplaced comment is uttered. It’s definitely not the primary time it has happened,” Parolin was quoted as saying. “Nevertheless, I don’t think there’s any particular movement, and thus far I haven’t heard anything like that.”
Deacons, meanwhile, were gathering on the Vatican for his or her special Holy Yr weekend. Francis got sick in the beginning of the Vatican’s Holy Yr, the once-every-quarter-century celebration of Catholicism. This weekend, Francis was presupposed to have celebrated deacons, a ministry within the church that precedes ordination to the priesthood.
In his place, the Holy Yr organizer will rejoice Sunday’s Mass, the Vatican said. And for the second consecutive weekend, Francis will skip his traditional Sunday noon blessing, which he could have delivered from Gemelli if he were as much as it.
“Look, despite the fact that he’s not (physically) here, we all know he’s here,” said Luis Arnaldo López Quirindongo, a deacon from Ponce, Puerto Rico, who was on the Vatican on Saturday for the Jubilee celebration. “He’s recovering, but he’s in our hearts and is accompanying us, because our prayers and his go together.”
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