Pope Francis remains critical but is stable, Vatican says

Pope Francis remains in a critical condition in his fight against double pneumonia, the Vatican said on Tuesday evening – but he has not had any further respiratory episodes.

The 88-year-old pontiff was spending his 12th night at Rome’s Gemelli hospital, the longest hospital stay of his near 12-year papacy.

He underwent a follow-up CAT scan to check his lung infection, according to a Holy See update, but no details were given on what was found.

Doctors said the prognosis remained cautious.

“In the morning, after receiving the Eucharist, he resumed work activities,” the Vatican statement said.

A Vatican official said earlier that Francis was eating normally, moving about his hospital room, and continuing his treatment.

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He was well enough to meet the Vatican secretary of state in his room to approve new decrees for possible saints. During the meeting, Francis approved decrees for two new saints and five people for beatification – the first step toward possible sainthood.

Francis has said that he would consider resigning after his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, “opened the door” and became the first pope in 600 years to retire, in 2013.

Giovanna Chirri, a reporter for the Italian news agency ANSA who broke the story of Benedict’s resignation, said that she didn’t think Francis would follow suit “even if some would want it”.

“I could be wrong, but I hope not,” she told the Associated Press. “As long as he’s alive, the world and the church need him.”

Francis’s English biographer, Austen Ivereigh, said that such a move was possible and that all that mattered was that Francis be “wholly free to make the right decision”.

“The Pope has always said that the papacy is for life, and he has shown that there is no problem with a frail and elderly pope,” Mr Ivereigh said. “But he has also said that should he ever have a long-term degenerative or debilitating condition which prevents him from fully carrying out the exercise of the papal ministry, he would consider resigning. And so would any pope.”

Francis has said that if he were to resign, he would live in Rome, outside the Vatican, and be called “emeritus bishop of Rome” rather than emeritus pope, given the problems that occurred with Benedict’s experiment as a retired pontiff. Despite his best efforts, Benedict remained a point of reference for conservatives before he died in 2022, and his home inside the Vatican gardens became something of a pilgrimage destination for those on the right.

Francis has also written a letter of resignation, to be invoked if he became medically incapacitated.

Doctors have said the condition of the Argentine pope, who had part of one lung removed as a young man, is touch and go, given his age, fragility and pre-existing lung disease before the pneumonia set in.

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On Tuesday morning, the Vatican’s typically brief morning update said: “The Pope slept well, all night.”

But in Monday’s update, it said the flow and concentration of supplemental oxygen had been slightly reduced. The slight kidney insufficiency detected on Sunday wasn’t causing alarm, it said.

At Gemelli on a rainy Tuesday morning, ordinary Romans and visitors alike were also praying for the Pope. Hoang Phuc Nguyen, who lives in Canada but was visiting Rome to participate in a Holy Year pilgrimage, took the time to come to Gemelli to say a special prayer at the statue of St John Paul II outside the main entrance.

“We heard that he is in the hospital right now and we are very worried about his health,” Mr Nguyen said. “He is our father and it is our responsibility to pray for him.”

Reuters and Associated Press contributed to this report