Day after breathing crisis, pope's condition is stable

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis remained in stable condition and did not suffer another respiratory episode a day after having “an isolated crisis of bronchospasm” that worsened his previously improving medical condition, the Vatican said.

Still, the pope’s doctors at Rome’s Gemelli hospital said his “prognosis remains guarded.”

With the crisis Feb. 28, the 88-year-old Pope Francis began receiving “noninvasive mechanical ventilation” — a treatment that delivers air with added oxygen through a tightly fitted face mask using positive pressure to assist breathing.

But by March 1, he was able to alternate between mechanical ventilation and high-flow oxygen therapy administered through a nasal cannula, the Vatican said in its evening medical bulletin.

The pope did not have a fever, it added, and he showed no sign of leukocytosis — an elevated white blood cell count that can indicate infection or inflammation.

The bulletin said that measurements related to the pope’s blood flow remained stable and that he continued “respiratory physiotherapy,” which often entails breathing exercises. The Vatican said Pope Francis has been “actively cooperating” with his therapy.

The March 1 bulletin also stated that the pope has continued to eat, and a Vatican source confirmed that he could still eat solid foods even after the previous day’s bronchospastic crisis “resulted in an episode of vomiting with inhalation.” He is not receiving intravenous feeding, the source said.

Pope Francis received the Eucharist in the afternoon and devoted himself to prayer during the day, the Vatican said, with a source adding that the pope spent 20 minutes praying in the chapel of the suite of rooms reserved for the popes at the Gemelli hospital.

The March 1 bulletin made no mention of the pope working during the day, unlike bulletins from the previous days.

A Vatican source said the pope’s message to accompany the Sunday Angelus will be published online and will not be delivered by the pope, in keeping with the previous two Sundays.

Cardinal Claudio Gugerotti, prefect of the Dicastery for Eastern Churches, was scheduled to lead the recitation of the rosary at the Vatican March 1. Due to rain, the prayer was to take place inside St. Peter’s Basilica rather than in the square where hundreds had been gathering each night to pray for the pope since Feb. 24.

The Vatican announced Feb. 28 that Pope Francis would not lead his traditional Ash Wednesday services in Rome March 5, and that instead the traditional procession and Mass that marks the start of Lent will be celebrated by Cardinal Angelo De Donatis, the major penitentiary or head of the Apostolic Penitentiary, a church court dealing with matters of conscience.