A stable Pope Francis I had a visit Sunday from the Secretary of State of the Vatican when he continued his restoration of the double pneumonia, but again jumped his weekly midday blessing to avoid even a brief public appearance of the hospital.
Instead, the Vatican distributed a message from the Pope in which he thanked his doctors for their care and their sympathizers for their prayers, and again prayed for peace in Ukraine and elsewhere.
“From there, the war seems even more absurd,” said Francis in the message, whom he has drafted in recent days from the Gemelli hospital, said the Vatican. Francis said that he lived his hospitalization as a deep solidarity experience with sick people and suffering everywhere.
“I feel in my heart the” blessing “which is hidden in fragility, because it is precisely in these moments that we learn even more to trust the Lord,” said Francis in the text. “At the same time, I thank God for having given me the opportunity to share in the body and the spirit of the condition of so many sick and suffering.”
The panels indicate a recovery
He marked the third consecutive weekend that Francis canceled the Sunday meeting offering Angelus prayer in person. He could have done him of his hospital suite on the 10th floor at the Gemelli hospital if he was quite well.
But many signs have indicated that he improved, especially after a respiratory crisis on Friday afternoon, which made him inhale vomiting during a cough adjustment and to increase the possibility of a new infection.
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“The night was silent, the pope still rests,” said the Vatican in his Sunday update. Francis was standing, read Sunday newspapers and had coffee and breakfast while continuing with his therapy.
Cardinal Pietro Parolin and his chief of staff, Archbishop Edgar Pena Parra, also called the Pope on Sunday morning, their second visit since the hospitalization of Francis on February 14, according to the Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni. There was no detail about what was discussed, but the simple visit suggested that Francis stabilized.
The doctors reported on Saturday that Francis was in a stable state, without mentioning that he was critical and managed to take long periods of free time of the non -invasive mechanical ventilation he needed to recover after the respiratory crisis on Friday.
The 88 -year -old Pope had a “correct answer” in his gas exchange levels even outside the fan mask on Saturday and using only high -speed oxygen, said the Vatican.
He had neither a fever nor signs of high white blood cells, which would indicate that his body was fighting a new infection.
The fact that Francis could have just used high speed oxygen for long periods, without any significant effect on the oxygen levels in his blood, was a sign that his respiratory function improved.
The doctors were however cautious and kept his prognosis as guarded, which means that he was not out of danger. He ate and drank and continued his respiratory physiotherapy, and spent 20 minutes in his private chapel in the corridor on Saturday, said the Vatican.
The pope, who had a part of a lung removed as a young man, has a lung disease and was admitted to Gemelli on February 14 after bronchitis worsened and turned into complex pneumonia in the two lungs.
Prayers continued to flock
The hospitalization of Francis came while the Vatican marks his holy year, attracting pilgrims in Rome everywhere. Many have added a pilgrimage destination to their routes so that they can pray for François at the Gemelli hospital, which is about 20 minutes by car from the Vatican, longer at peak time or on public transport.
The Reverend Riccardo Fumagalli had accompanied a group of young people from Milan in Rome for the jubilee and allegedly attended the Angelus prayer of Francis on Saint-Pierre square on Sunday if he had delivered it as usual. Instead, they went to Gemelli.
“It seemed good to come here to express our proximity, especially these teenagers, to be close to the Holy Father to pray for him, to pray for this moment of illness,” he said.
The cancer patient Antonino Caccace also arrived in Milan Gemelli on Sunday for her own treatment, saying that he had to undergo surgery in the coming days and counted on the prayers of Francis.
“I’m glad the pope gives me help,” he said. “I am on the ninth (floor) and it is on the 10th (floor). I hope to meet him and see him, “he said.
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