The Pope is stable and off mechanical ventilation after apparently overcoming a setback in his recovery from pneumonia, the Vatican has said.
The 88-year-old, who has been in hospital since 14 February, is also showing no sign of new infection after a respiratory crisis late last week.
“The Pope rested well all night,” the Vatican said in its update from the Gemelli hospital in Rome.
He has had coffee and breakfast today and has been undergoing therapy.
After Friday’s coughing episode, the Pope had needed a non-invasive mechanical ventilation mask to pump oxygen into his lungs – but the doctors did not need to use it at all on Sunday.
Pope Francis continued to receive high-flow supplemental oxygen through a nasal tube.
Friday’s respiratory crisis sparked fears of a new lung infection because he had inhaled some vomit.
Doctors aspirated it and said they needed 24 to 48 hours to determine if any new infection had taken hold.
On Sunday evening, they said the Pope remained stable, with no fever or signs of an infection, indicating he had overcome the crisis. His prognosis remained guarded, meaning he was not out of danger.
The pontiff also received a visit from the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, and his chief of staff, Archbishop Edgar Pena Parra.
The content of their talks was not known, but the pope meets them at least weekly when he is at the Vatican.
He again skipped his weekly noon blessing to avoid even a brief public appearance from the hospital.
Instead, the Vatican distributed a message written by the Pope in which he thanked his doctors for their care and well-wishers for their prayers, and prayed again for peace in Ukraine and elsewhere.
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“From here, war appears even more absurd,” Francis said in the message, which he had drafted in recent days.
The Pope said his hospital stay was an experience of profound solidarity with people who are sick and suffering everywhere.
“I feel in my heart the ‘blessing’ that is hidden within frailty, because it is precisely in these moments that we learn even more to trust in the Lord,” Francis said in the text.
“At the same time, I thank God for giving me the opportunity to share in body and spirit the condition of so many sick and suffering people.”
Thousands gather in St Peter’s Square to pray for the Pope’s recovery. Pic: AP
The pontiff, who had part of one lung removed as a young man, was admitted to the Gemelli hospital on 14 February after his bronchitis worsened and turned into complex pneumonia in both lungs.
On Sunday night at the Vatican, Cardinal Konrad Krajewski presided over the evening rosary prayer in St Peter’s Square.
“Let us pray together with the entire church for the health of the Holy Father Francis,” said Cardinal Krajewski, who is the Pope’s personal almoner, a centuries-old job of handing out alms.
Francis has elevated the job to make it an extension of his own personal charity.
