Pope Francis is in a critical condition after he had suffered a long asthmatic respiratory crisis that required high oxygen flows, the Vatican said.
Francis, 88, who was admitted to hospital for a week with a complex lung infection, also received blood transfusions after tests showed a condition associated with anemia, the Vatican said today in an update.
'The Holy Father remains alert and spent the day in an armchair, although in more pain than yesterday. The prognosis is currently reserved, “said the statement.
Previously, doctors said that Francis fought against pneumonia and a complex airway infection that doctors said to touch doctors and will keep him in the hospital for at least a week.
The Vatican continued his holy annual celebrations without the Pope on Saturday.
In a short earlier update today, Francis would have slept at night.
But doctors have warned that the most important threat to Francis would be the beginning of Sepsis, a serious infection of the blood that can occur as a complication of pneumonia.
From Friday there was no evidence of any sepsis and Francis responded to the various medicines he used, said the Pope's medical team in their first in -depth update about his condition.
Pope Francis, 88, is in a critical condition after he had suffered a long asthmatic respiratory crisis that required high oxygen flows, the Vatican said
Francis, who was admitted to hospital for a week with a complex lung infection, also received blood transfusions after tests showed a condition associated with anemia
“He's not out of danger,” said his personal doctor, Dr. Luigi Carbone. “So like all fragile patients, I say that they are always on the golden scale: in other words, it takes very little to become unbalanced.”
Francis, who has a chronic lung disease, was admitted to the Gemelli Hospital on 14 February after a week -long match of bronchitis deteriorated.
For the first time, doctors put the complex viral, bacterial and fungal practice infection and then the start of pneumonia in both lungs. They have prescribed 'absolute peace' and a combination of cortisone and antibiotics, along with additional oxygen when he needs it.
Carbone, who, together with the personal nurse Massimiliano Strappetti from Francis cared for him in the Vatican, acknowledged that he was insisting in the Vatican to work, even after he was sick, “because of institutional and private obligations.” He was provided by a cardiologist and infectious specialist in addition to his personal medical team before being admitted to the hospital.
Dr. Sergio Alfieri, the head of medicine and an operation in the Gemelli hospital of Rome, said that the biggest threat to Francis was that some of the germs currently in his respiratory system pass through the bloodstream in the bloodstream, creating sepsis . Sepsis can lead to organ failure and death.
“Sepsis, with his breathing problems and his age, would be very difficult to get out,” Alfieri said a press conference in Gemelli on Friday. “The English say” knocking on wood, “we say” touch iron. “Everyone touches what they want,” he said, tapping the microphone. “But this is the real risk in these cases: that these germs go to the bloodstream.”
“He knows he is in danger,” Alfieri added. “And he said we had to pass that on.”
Deacon meanwhile gathered in the Vatican for their special anniversary weekend. Francis fell ill at the start of the holy year of the Vatican, the once every-quart-century celebration of Catholicism. This weekend, Francis was supposed to have celebrated deacons, a ministry in the church that precedes the priesthood.
In his place, the organizer of the Holy Year will celebrate the mass of Sunday, the Vatican said. And for the second weekend in a row, Francis was expected to skip his traditional Sunday -afternoon blessing, which he could have delivered to Gemelli if he was there.
“Look, although he is not here (physical), we know he is here,” said Luis Arnaldo Lopez Quirindongo, a deacon of Ponce, Puerto Rico who was in the Vatican for the Jubilee celebration on Saturday. “He recovers, but he is in our hearts and accompanies us because our prayers and his go together.”
Furthermore, doctors have said that the recovery of Francis will take time and that he will have to live in the Vatican with his chronic breathing problems.
“He has to bypass this infection and we all hope he will come over it,” said Alfieri. “But the fact is that all doors are open.”
