Pope Francis critical condition Vatican reveals

The 88-year-old pope, the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church since 2013, was admitted on February 14 with breathing difficulties.

Pope Francis, in hospital in a critical condition with pneumonia in both lungs, passed a good night and was resting, the Vatican said Monday.

The 88-year-old pope, the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church since 2013, was admitted on February 14 with breathing difficulties.

“The night passed well, the pope slept and is resting”, the Vatican said. This is the longest hospitalisation of in Francis’s papacy.

The 88-year-old pope, the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church since 2013, was admitted on February 14 with breathing difficulties.

He was initially diagnosed with bronchitis but this developed into pneumonia in both lungs -- and on Saturday night, the Vatican warned for the first time that his condition was critical.

On Sunday it said he continues to receive “high-flow” oxygen through a nasal cannula, and blood tests demonstrated an “initial, mild, renal failure, currently under control”.

Francis is alert but “the complexity of the clinical picture, and the need to wait for the pharmacological treatments to have some effect, mean that the prognosis remains reserved”, it concluded.

Pope Francis. Photo by Alberto PIZZOLI / AFP

Abele Donati, head of the anaesthesia and intensive care unit at the Marche University Hospital, told the Corriere della Sera daily that the renal failure “could signal the presence of sepsis in the early stages”.

“It is the body’s response to an ongoing infection, in this case of the two lungs”, he said.

Professor Sergio Alfieri, leading the medical team treating the pope at Rome’s Gemelli hospital, warned at a press conference on Friday that “the real risk in these cases is that the germs pass into the blood”, which could result in sepsis, a life-threatening condition.

Francis’s continued hospitalisation has sparked widespread concern, with Catholics around the world praying for his recovery.

It has also fuelled speculation about whether he might step down.

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.

But he has repeatedly said it was not the time.

Originally published as Pope Francis critical condition Vatican reveals