Cautious relief as Pope Francis marks one month in hospital
The 88-year-old pope has not been seen by most faithful since a general audience on February 12 in the Vatican’s Paul VI Hall
Pope Francis has continued to show signs of gradual recovery as he marks one month in the hospital where he is being treated for double pneumonia.
The 88-year-old pontiff has not been seen publicly since a general audience on February 12th in the Vatican’s Paul VI Hall, prompting an outpouring of concern from Catholics worldwide — and speculation about whether he had plans to resign.
Rollercoaster medical updates flowed during the first three weeks of his treatment, however, in recent days the initial dread has given way to cautious relief as fears of imminent death have been lifted.
Pilgrims arriving in Rome for the Catholic Church’s Jubilee Year have added a stop at the Gemelli Hospital where Francis is being treated to pray for his recovery. Cameras have been trained on a suite of mostly shaded 10th-floor windows where the pope is staying, but he has yet to make an appearance.
Experts note that it has only been in recent church history – chiefly since John Paul II’s 1978-2005 papacy - that the faithful have grown accustomed to seeing popes on a regular basis and church officials insist the pope continues his ministry from the hospital.
“We’re … used to seeing a pope who’s everywhere all the time,’’ said Kurt Martens, a Washington, D.C.-based canon lawyer. “But don’t forget that in the past, not that long ago, popes would show up only rarely,’’ he said, delegating routine and even Holy Week celebrations to cardinals.
Francis was last seen on February 14 before being admitted to the hospital following a weeks-long bout of bronchitis. He increasingly found it hard to speak publicly.
He marked the 12th anniversary of his papacy on March 13 in the hospital. The only sign of life has been a recording of his soft, laboured voice broadcast to the faithful in St. Peter’s Square on March 6 thanking them for their prayers.
Since February 19 the Vatican had started each day by issuing a brief, reassuring statement noting with small variations that the pope has slept a tranquil night. Medical bulletins have been reduced from daily, to every other day.
The first three weeks were marked by slight improvements punctuated by alarming setbacks: a polymicrobial (bacterial, viral and fungal) infection on Day 4, double pneumonia on Day 5 and mild kidney failure on Day 10, along with respiratory crises on Day 9 and Day 18, and a severe coughing fit on Day 15.
But earlier this week, doctors lifted a guarded prognosis, indicating the pope was no longer at immediate risk of death from the infection.
The latest medical bulletin said that pope’s condition remained stable but indicated a complex picture considering his overall fragility, which includes his age, limited mobility often requiring a wheelchair and the removal of part of a lung as a young man.
While it is the longest hospitalisation of Francis’s papacy, John Paul II holds the record: 55 days in the same specially outfitted papal apartment at the Gemelli, which includes a chapel.