Vatican City: Pope Francis, who is in the hospital with pneumonia, underwent a “respiratory crisis” on Friday which made him vomit, but he was given and stabilized, said the Vatican.
The episode occurred only a few hours after a Vatican source said that the 88 -year -old pontiff’s state was no longer considered critical, following a series of progressive improvements.
Francis, who has spent the last two weeks at the Gemelli Hospital in Rome, “presented an isolated crisis of bronchospasm which … led to an episode of vomiting with inhalation and a sudden worsening of the respiratory image,” the Vatican said in a statement on Friday evening.
“The Holy Father quickly suffered a broncho-aspiration and began non-invasive mechanical ventilation, with a good answer on gas exchange,” he said.
Francis “remained alert and oriented at any time, cooperating with therapeutic maneuvers,” he added.
His doctors said it would take the following 24 to 48 hours to determine if this respiratory problem had aggravated his condition, said a Vatican source.
The pontiff, which is “not out of danger”, used an oxygen mask that covers his nose and his mouth but was “in a good mood”, added the source.
He also responded better than the others could have done so in his condition, said the source.
The pope was hospitalized on February 14 for breathing difficulties, but his condition deteriorated in pneumonia in the two lungs, an outburst.
He suffered a respiratory attack this weekend, but since then he seemed to improve slightly, the Vatican releasing more optimistic medical updates.
However, he has not yet changed the pope’s prognosis for “reserved”, which means that doctors will not predict the changes in his health.
Always reserved
Medical experts have warned that the age of Francis and chronic respiratory disease which he suffers mean that a sustained recovery could take time.
The Pope, head of the world’s Catholics, in the world, had part of one of his lungs withdrawn as a young man and has undergone increasing health problems in recent years.
It is subject to bronchitis and suffers from hip and knee pain, which has reported on a wheelchair.
However, Francis continued to work from the special hospital on the 10th floor of Gemelli.
He also did breathing exercises between rest and prayer, according to the Vatican.
This stay in hospital is the fourth of the nearly 12 years of Argentinian and the longest.
In recent years, he has undergone surgery on his colon and an operation as hernia, as well as a previous stay in hospital with bronchitis.
There has been speculation as to whether Francis could now resign, especially since his schedule has been filled with papal tasks in the midst of the celebrations of the year of the Holy Jubilee.
“If the pope survives, many imagine that he will want to finish the year of the jubilee, but that afterwards, when he is 89 years old, he will face the question of resigning or not,” the Italian expert of Vatican Marco Politi told AFP.
Francis has always been opened to follow his predecessor, Benedict XVI, who in 2013 resigned because of his physical and mental health.
But before his hospitalization, Francis had said on several occasions that it was not yet time – and that he might never be.
