Pope suffered ‘isolated breathing crisis’ in health setback

Vatican City: Pope Francis is relying on non-invasive mechanical ventilation after suffering a second isolated coughing fit on Friday in his two-week battle against double pneumonia.

The fit, which resulted in him inhaling vomit, is an alarming setback for the 88-year-old Pope. He remained conscious and alert at all times and co-operated with the manoeuvres to help him recover from the fit, the Vatican said on Saturday (AEDT). He responded well, with a good level of oxygen exchange and was continuing to wear a mask to receive supplemental oxygen.

A woman prays for Pope Francis with thousands of others in St Peters Square on Friday night.Credit: AP

The episode, which occurred on Friday afternoon, resulted in a “sudden worsening of the respiratory picture”. Doctors decided to keep Francis’ prognosis as guarded and indicated they needed 24 to 48 hours to evaluate how and if the episode impacted his overall clinical condition.

The development followed two successive days of increasingly upbeat reports from doctors who have been treating Francis at Rome’s Gemelli hospital since February 14. The Pope, who had part of one lung removed as a young man, has lung disease and was admitted after a bout of bronchitis worsened and turned into pneumonia in both lungs.

A pulmonary critical care doctor at Northwestern Medicine in Chicago, John Coleman, said the episode as relayed by the Vatican was alarming and underscored Francis’ fragility and that his condition “can turn very quickly”.

“I think this is extremely concerning, given the fact that the Pope has been in the hospital now for over two weeks, and now he’s continuing to have these respiratory events and now had this aspiration event that is requiring even higher levels of support,” Coleman, who is not involved in Francis’ care, said.

Pope Francis salutes faithful during his weekly general audience at the Vatican on February 12.Credit: AP

“So given his age and his fragile state and his previous lung resection, this is very concerning.

Dr. William Feldman, a pulmonary specialist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, said it was a good sign that the Pope remained alert and oriented, but concurred that the episode marked “a worrying turn”.

“Often we will use noninvasive ventilation as a way of trying to stave off an intubation, or the use of invasive mechanical ventilation,” Feldman said.

Types of noninvasive ventilation include a BiPAP machine, which helps people breathe by pushing air into their lungs. Doctors will often try such a machine for a while to see if the patient’s blood gas levels improve so they can eventually go back to using oxygen alone.

Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernandez, left, leads the rosary for the Pope’s health in St Peters Square on Friday night.Credit: AP

The first respiratory crisis Francis suffered on February 22 was a longer crisis in actually breathing, the Vatican said.

Doctors did not resume referring to Francis as being in a “critical condition”. That has been absent from their statements for three days now. But they say he isn’t out of danger, given the complexity of his case.

Earlier on Friday, Francis spent the morning alternating high flows of supplemental oxygen with a mask and praying in the chapel. He had breakfast, read the day’s newspapers and was receiving respiratory physiotherapy, the Vatican said.

Late on Friday, Francis’ closest friend in the Vatican bureaucracy, Argentine Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, led the nightly prayer in St Peter’s Square to pray for Francis’ health.

With other cardinals bundled against the night chill, Fernández urged the crowd to pray not just for Francis but for others, as the Pope himself would.

“Certainly it is close to the Holy Father’s heart that our prayer is not only for him, but also for all those who in this particular dramatic and suffering moment of the world, bear the hard burden of war, of sickness, of poverty,” Fernández, the Vatican’s doctrine chief, said.

The Vatican has not said how long the Pope will remain in hospital, but it announced that Francis would not lead the annual church service next week to open the Christian season of Lent.

The March 5 service, known as Ash Wednesday, starts the 40-day period leading up to Easter Sunday. It will instead be entrusted to a senior Vatican official.

Francis, who has been pontiff since 2013 and is often described as working himself to exhaustion, has continued leading the Vatican from the hospital. Staff appointments requiring his approval are announced daily.

On Friday, the Vatican released a papal letter to participants in a church training course in Rome, which was signed by Francis with a note to say it was sent “from Gemelli hospital”.

AP, Reuters

Get a note directly from our foreign correspondents on what’s making headlines around the world. Sign up for the weekly What in the World newsletter here.