ROME – Pope Francis was described by doctors as being in stable condition Tuesday following additional respiratory difficulties a day prior, however, he continues to use periodic ventilation and his prognosis remains unclear.
In a March 4 statement, the Vatican said the pope’s conditions that day “remained stable.”
“No episodes of respiratory failure presented, nor of bronchospasm,” it said, referring to three previous spasms the pope experienced Friday and Monday in which the bronchi, the tubes connecting the lungs to the windpipe, seized and tightened, making it difficult to breathe.
In both cases, his respiratory tract had to be suctioned, first after he ingested his own vomit, and later due to a buildup of mucus that blocked his bronchi.
Francis does not have a fever, and was described as being “always vigilant, collaborative with his therapies and oriented.”
The update comes after the pope experienced two episodes of acute respiratory failure Monday due to an accumulation of mucus in his respiratory tract, which caused a bronchospasm requiring him to be put back on non-invasive mechanical ventilation.
However, the Vatican said Tuesday that the pope was taken off of the ventilator that morning and resumed use of high-flow oxygen administered through the nose, as well as his antibiotic therapy.
Admitted Feb. 14 for treatment of a complex respiratory infection and double pneumonia, the pope has been receiving high-flow oxygen since Feb. 22, when he experienced a prolonged respiratory crisis.
The Vatican’s statemen Tuesday said Pope Francis will be put back on a non-invasive mechanical ventilator, “as scheduled,” Tuesday night and will continue to use it until Wednesday morning.
He spent the day alternating between rest and prayer after receiving the Eucharist in the morning.
Given the precarity of his condition, doctors have said his overall prognosis is still “guarded” and are not yet offering a determination.
Due to the pope’s ongoing hospitalization, his March 5 Ash Wednesday procession and Mass will be celebrated in his place by Italian Cardinal Angelo De Donatis, major penitentiary of the Vatican’s Apostolic Penitentiary.
Despite the pope’s absence, members of the Roman Curia are still scheduled to participate in their spiritual exercises in spiritual communion with the pontiff from March 9-14, with all cardinals, archbishops, bishops and lay employees of the curia and Vatican governorate invited to participate.
Curia members continue to pray a rosary for Pope Francis’s health and recovery nightly in St. Peter’s Square. Tuesday’s rosary is scheduled to be led by British Cardinal Arthur Roche, prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Liturgy.
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