ROME – After experiencing what doctors described as a “bronchospasm” Friday, requiring him to be temporarily put on a ventilator, the Vatican has said Pope Francis is in stable condition, but there is still no official, overall prognosis.
In a March 1 statement, the Vatican said, “the Holy Father’s clinical conditions remain stable.”
Throughout the day he alternated use of a non-invasive ventilator, in which a mask covering his nose and mouth is sealed to his face, and oxygen therapy administered through the nose, with “a positive response to the exchange of gasses.”
Pope Francis does not have a fever and he also shows no signs of leukocytosis, meaning a high white blood cell count, the Vatican said, saying his laboratory blood tests continue to be stable.
Despite Friday’s crisis, the pope continues to eat normally and regularly undergoes respiratory physiotherapy, and is “actively collaborating” with doctors’ orders, the statement said, saying there have been no further spasms in the past 24 hours.
The pope was described as being “always vigilant and oriented,” the Vatican said, saying he spent the afternoon in prayer after receiving the Eucharist.
Given the precarity of the pope’s condition, doctors are still refraining from offering an overall prognosis.
Saturday’s update comes after Francis suffered a bronchospasm Friday, meaning the muscles lining the bronchi, the tubes that connect the windpipe to the lungs, constricted and narrowed, causing him to inhale some of his own vomit.
The gastric contents he inhaled were immediately suctioned out and doctors began use of NIV, or non-invasive ventilation, which is a step between the regular oxygen mask, and a full mechanical ventilator in which the patient is intubated.
With NIV treatment, an oxygen mask is tightly sealed to the nose and mouth so there is no passage of air, inducing pressure that is helpful for inhalation, when the patient is too weak to inhale properly on their own.
Francis has been in Rome’s Gemelli Hospital for over two weeks, after being admitted Feb. 14 for treatment of bronchitis, and later being diagnosed with a complex respiratory infection and double pneumonia.
Though he continues to make appointments and sign documents from his hospital room, his public and private audiences have been canceled.
Pope Francis’s Saturday morning jubilee general audience this week was canceled due to his hospital stay and he will not give his Sunday Angelus address for the third week in a row, however, the Vatican will distribute the text for publication.
Masses, rosaries and other prayers have been offered for the pope throughout his hospital stay at the Gemelli, at the Vatican, and throughout the city of Rome and the world.
On Saturday night, Italian Cardinal Claudio Gugerotti, head of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Eastern Churches, is set to lead a rosary for the pope and his health in St. Peter’s Square.
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