Vatican City: Pope Francis, who is in the hospital with pneumonia, suffered a “respiratory crisis” on Friday that made him vomiting, but gave him air and stabilized, said the Vatican.
The episode occurred only a few hours after a Vatican source said that the condition of the 88 -year -old pontiff was no longer considered critical, after a series of incremental improvements.
Francis, who has spent the last two weeks at the Gemelli Hospital in Rome, “presented an isolated bronchospasm crisis that … led to an episode of vomiting with inhalation and a sudden worsening of the respiratory image,” said the Vatican in a statement on Friday night.
“The Holy Father quickly underwent the aspiration of the Bronco and began the non -invasive mechanical ventilation, with a good response in the exchange of gases,” he said.
Francis “remained alert and oriented at all times, cooperating with therapeutic maneuvers,” he added.
His doctors said he would take the next 24 to 48 hours to determine whether this respiratory problem has worsened, said a Vatican source.
The pontiff, who “is not out of danger,” he was using an oxygen mask that covers his nose and mouth but was “in a good mood,” added the source.
He also responded better than others could have done in his condition, said the source.
The Pope was hospitalized on February 14 due to breathing difficulties, but his condition deteriorated in pneumonia in both lungs, with alarm.
He suffered a breathing attack on the weekend, but since then he seemed to have improved slightly, with the Vatican who launched more optimistic medical updates.
However, it has not yet modified the “reserved” forecast of the Pope, which means that doctors will not predict changes in their health.
Still reserved
Medical experts have warned that Francis’s age and chronic respiratory disease from which he suffers means that a sustained recovery could take time.
The Pope, the head of the almost 1.4 billion Catholics in the world, had part of one of his lungs eliminated when he was young and has suffered growing health problems in recent years.
It is prone to bronchitis and suffers hip and knee, which has done it depending on a wheelchair.
However, Francis has continued working since the Special Suite of the Hospital on the tenth floor of Gemelli.
He has also been doing breathing exercises between resting and praying, according to the Vatican.
This stay in the hospital is the fourth of the almost 12 years of the Argentine and the longest.
In recent years, he underwent surgery in his colon and a hernia operation, as well as a previous stay in the hospital with bronchitis.
It has been speculated on whether Francis could resign, especially because his schedule has been full of papal tasks in the middle of celebrations for the year of the Santo Jubilee.
“If the Pope survives, many imagine that he will want to finish the year of the jubilee, but later, when he is 89 years old, he will face the question of whether to give up or not,” said the expert of the Italian Vatican Marco Politi to the AFP.
Francis has always been open to its predecessor, Benedict XVI, who in 2013 renounced his physical and mental health.
But before his hospitalization, Francis had repeatedly said that it was not yet the time, and it may never be.
