Pope Francis, still hospitalized, has pneumonia in both lungs
ROME – Pope Francis is suffering from pneumonia in both lungs, the Vatican disclosed late Tuesday, as officials cleared his schedule through the weekend because of a “complex” infection plaguing the 88-year-old pontiff.
Francis, who had part of one lung removed in his youth, was admitted to Rome’s Agostino Gemelli Polyclinic hospital Friday after developing another in a series of battles with bronchitis. Preliminary tests indicated that Francis had a respiratory tract infection and was running a slight fever as he underwent treatment.
Late Tuesday, however, the Vatican said chest X-rays showed he had developed a polymicrobial infection that arose from asthmatic bronchitis and bronchiectasis, a condition in which the airways widen, leading to a buildup of excess mucus that can make the lungs more vulnerable to infection. He is undergoing a “complex” treatment using antibiotic cortisone therapy, the Vatican said.
The pneumonia was detected during a chest CAT scan Francis underwent Tuesday afternoon, which was prescribed by his Vatican health team and hospital doctors.
“Nevertheless,” the Vatican said, “Pope Francis is in good spirits.”
The Vatican added that the pope ate breakfast Tuesday morning and, during the day, alternated rest with prayer and reading. Francis also received Holy Communion. The pope offered thanks for those who “continue to pray for him.”
Daniel Culver, chairman of pulmonary medicine at the Cleveland Clinic, said an 88-year-old with pneumonia requiring hospitalization, “that’s a serious event.” He added, though, that “the majority of patients would still be expected to recover.”
“It’s very difficult to tell how serious” the pope’s pneumonia is without knowing more, Culver said, such as whether Francis is in intensive care, or requiring additional oxygen.
Jesse Goodman, a professor of medicine at Georgetown University Medical Center and former chief scientist at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, said “there’s no question that it’s serious to have pneumonia and more serious when it affects both lungs.”
Reports that the pope was eating breakfast and reading Tuesday morning “are good things,” he added.
Francis has suffered from declining health and mobility for years, and this hospitalization is his fourth since ascending to the papacy in 2013. In 2021, the pope spent 10 days at Gemelli Polyclinic after having 13 inches of his colon removed. In March 2023, he was hospitalized for three days and treated for acute bronchitis after feeling a sharp pain in his chest and having trouble breathing. Francis later said he had pneumonia. He also had abdominal surgery in June 2023 to remove scar tissue and repair a hernia.
He had appeared bloated and weak in the days before his latest admission, often struggling to speak and passing to others tasks that involved his reading aloud. Italian media has reported that doctors had encouraged Francis to go to the hospital for days before he did so Friday.
Francis has fallen and injured himself twice in recent months: first in December, when he appeared with a bruise on his chin at a ceremony to install 21 new cardinals, and again in January, when he injured his right arm.
The Vatican had said Monday that Francis was suffering from a “polymicrobial infection of the respiratory tract” – indicating that the pope was fighting a multipronged infection that it said required “adequate hospitalization.”
His doctors, the Vatican said, have ordered “absolute rest.”
On Tuesday, the Vatican said Francis would skip a Saturday audience related to the church’s jubilee, which is bringing millions of Catholics to Rome this year. He was also scheduled to say a Sunday Mass but has delegated that duty to a senior Vatican official.