Pope has reduced need for overnight supplemental oxygen, Vatican says

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis spent the night without a breathing mask, the Vatican press office said March 18, indicating that his need for supplemental oxygen continues to diminish.

The pope received high-flow oxygen through a nasal tube overnight, it said, a change from the noninvasive mechanical ventilation he had been using since he had a breathing crisis Feb. 28. He has been hospitalized since Feb. 14.

The decision to forgo overnight mechanical ventilation aligns with a medical plan to “progressively reduce” the 88-year-old pope’s supplemental oxygen intake, the press office said, though it does not mean he will no longer use it at night.

Pope Francis has been alternating between high-flow and normal-flow oxygen during the day, and doctors had already been reducing the number of hours he uses mechanical ventilation at night. During brief periods, the pope could go without supplemental oxygen entirely, the press office had said the previous day.

A photo released by the Vatican March 16 showed the pope without a nasal tube.

On March 18, the pope dedicated himself to prayer, work activities and therapy prescribed by his doctors, the press office said. He continues to follow a prescribed diet that “also consists of solid food,” it added.

Cardinal Angelo De Donatis, head of the Apostolic Penitentiary, a church court, was scheduled to lead the recitation of the rosary in St. Peter’s Square for the pope’s health.

While the Vatican has given no indication of when the pope might be released from the hospital, Britain’s King Charles III and Queen Camilla confirmed that they plan to meet with Pope Francis in early April.

The British Embassy to the Holy See released Buckingham Palace’s itinerary for the royals’ state visit March 18, which includes an audience with Pope Francis April 8.