Pope Francis, who has been hospitalised for eight days due to double pneumonia, “had a good rest,” the Vatican stated on Saturday in a communiqué, despite ongoing concerns about the 88-year-old pontiff’s health.
“Le pape François s’est bien reposé,” the brief communiqué read, following a statement from one of his attending physicians that he is not “out of danger.”
“The pope is not out of danger,” said Professor Sergio Alfieri during a press briefing on Friday afternoon at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital, where the pontiff has been receiving treatment since his admission.
“The real risk in such cases is that germs could enter the bloodstream,” potentially causing a fatal septicaemia, he explained.
Therefore, “as a precaution,” even though he is “slightly better” and not connected to any machines, it is necessary to keep him in hospital “at least for the entire next week,” he added before a throng of journalists.
Furthermore, “it takes days, even weeks, to observe the effectiveness of… the therapies we are using,” he noted.
At the hospital, the pope is receiving his closest collaborators, reading, signing documents, and making phone calls.
Francis was hospitalised on 14 February initially for bronchitis, but the Holy See revealed on Tuesday that he had developed pneumonia in both lungs, a potentially deadly infection of the lung tissue.
This hospitalization, his fourth since 2021, has raised significant concerns as the pope has been weakened by a series of health issues in recent years, from colon and abdominal surgeries to mobility difficulties.
Concerns are heightened by the spread of false information on social media, particularly on X, reporting the pope’s death in multiple languages.
The Vatican has not specified if Francis will be able to lead the weekly Angelus prayer from the hospital on Sunday, as he has done in the past. “The pope will decide,” Professor Alfieri remarked.
