ROME – As Pope Francis marks five weeks in Rome’s Gemelli Hospital, doctors have said he continues to improve but have not yet given an expected discharge date, while top aides have said a ‘new phase’ of the papacy is expected upon the pope’s eventual return.
The Vatican’s press office Friday told journalists that “the pope’s condition remains stable,” and that he continues to show small improvements in breathing and motor skills.
Francis is no longer using mechanical ventilation at night, but high-flow oxygen administered through nasal cannulas, the Vatican said, but specified that the pontiff uses “less and less” oxygen during the day.
“Doctors have not yet given an indication of when he will be discharged from the hospital,” the Vatican said, with the pope having been admitted Feb. 14 for treatment of a complex respiratory infection and double pneumonia.
Given his steady improvement, doctors are providing less frequent updates, however, the Vatican said Francis spends most of his days undergoing respiratory and motor therapy, and alternating prayer and work.
Pope Francis has not received any visitors in recent days, but the Vatican issued a statement on Saturday saying the pontiff is expected to give a Sunday Angelus address this weekend from the hospital, and the text will also be distributed for publication.
Further information on the pope’s medical condition is expected Monday.
Journalists asked Vatican Secretary of State Italian Cardinal Pietro Parolin at an event March 21 at the Casina Pio IV, inside the Vatican Museums, whether the pope will be back at the Vatican in time for Easter.
In response, Parolin said, “We won’t make predictions, let’s wait to hear what the doctors say.”
Close papal friend and ghostwriter Argentine Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, speaking ahead of a March 21 presentation of the book Viva la Poesia by Jesuit Father Antonio Spadaro, said he has been in contact with Pope Francis since his hospitalization, and that the pope is doing well.
“He is doing very well physically. Now he needs rehabilitation, because so much time with the high-flow oxygen dries everything, and he almost needs to learn to talk again,” Fernández told journalists Friday, saying the pope’s physical condition, despite his prolonged illness, has not deteriorated, but “is like before.”
In terms of a return to the Vatican, Fernández said the pope will return, but “doctors want to be one hundred percent sure, they prefer to wait a bit, because he has his way of living, he wants to completely spend himself.”
Pope Francis, he said, wants to spend his remaining time, however long that might be, working, rather than resting.
However, the pontiff’s lifestyle will “certainly change” once he returns to his residence at the Vatican’s Saint Martha guesthouse, though the exact details of what his post-hospitalization life will look like are still unknown.
In terms of the pope’s mood, Fernández said that it is not easy for someone like Pope Francis to be in the hospital, and that he initially refused to go, but eventually went after “a very close friends convinced him.”
“Imagine how hard it is for him, but he is one of those Jesuits from before, from other times, who have an immense strength and ability to sacrifice, to find meaning in these dark moments,” Fernández said.
He said “a new phase is starting” for Pope Francis, but called the pope “a man of surprises, who has certainly learned a lot of things during this month” that will come out once he is back.
“So, even knowing that this is a very heavy challenge for him, a difficult moment, I know that it will be fertile for the church and the world,” Fernández said, saying he does not believe Francis will resign.
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