Pope Francis Faces Long, Challenging Recovery Fight
3/7/2025 7:15:00 PM
Three weeks to the day after being admitted to Rome's Gemelli hospital, Pope Francis is still struggling to shake off the double pneumonia that has battered his already fragile health.
The 88-year-old pontiff has not been seen in public since entering hospital, and the Vatican has given no indication of when he might come out, or when he could resume anything like his usually demanding work schedule.
The road to recovery is likely to be long and fraught with danger, said medical experts who are not involved in his care and were speaking in general terms about his condition.
"I've seen patients who have spent months in hospital in this sort of situation. Of course he can recover, but the chances for a negative outcome are high," said Professor Christoph Lange, Secretary General of the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease.
"The best advice would be to let him rest, let him take whatever time he needs to get well again," he told Reuters.
Underscoring his diminished condition, the pope released a brief audio message on Thursday night giving thanks to all those praying for him. His voice was broken, breathless and hard to understand.
The Vatican has released daily updates from the pope's medical team, breaking previous Church taboos by providing a detailed, real-time assessment of the pontiff's health.
In what was seen as a positive development, his doctors said on Thursday that given his clinical stability, they would provide their next bulletin on Saturday, skipping Friday.
However, they continued to caution that his overall prognosis remained guarded, as they have each day since February 22, meaning he is not yet out of danger.
Loredana Sarmati, professor of infectious diseases at Rome's Tor Vergata University, said it would be possible to start talking about recovery only once the guarded prognosis was lifted.
"Pneumonia of this magnitude is challenging even for a young person. Here we are talking about an elderly man and above all a man who already in previous months had respiratory problems," she said. "Pneumonia can take weeks and weeks to heal."
The current illness is the most serious of several respiratory ailments the pope has had in recent years. He had part of a lung removed as a young man after suffering pleurisy.
The 88-year-old pontiff has not been seen in public since entering hospital, and the Vatican has given no indication of when he might come out, or when he could resume anything like his usually demanding work schedule.
The road to recovery is likely to be long and fraught with danger, said medical experts who are not involved in his care and were speaking in general terms about his condition.
"I've seen patients who have spent months in hospital in this sort of situation. Of course he can recover, but the chances for a negative outcome are high," said Professor Christoph Lange, Secretary General of the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease.
"The best advice would be to let him rest, let him take whatever time he needs to get well again," he told Reuters.
Underscoring his diminished condition, the pope released a brief audio message on Thursday night giving thanks to all those praying for him. His voice was broken, breathless and hard to understand.
The Vatican has released daily updates from the pope's medical team, breaking previous Church taboos by providing a detailed, real-time assessment of the pontiff's health.
In what was seen as a positive development, his doctors said on Thursday that given his clinical stability, they would provide their next bulletin on Saturday, skipping Friday.
However, they continued to caution that his overall prognosis remained guarded, as they have each day since February 22, meaning he is not yet out of danger.
Loredana Sarmati, professor of infectious diseases at Rome's Tor Vergata University, said it would be possible to start talking about recovery only once the guarded prognosis was lifted.
"Pneumonia of this magnitude is challenging even for a young person. Here we are talking about an elderly man and above all a man who already in previous months had respiratory problems," she said. "Pneumonia can take weeks and weeks to heal."
The current illness is the most serious of several respiratory ailments the pope has had in recent years. He had part of a lung removed as a young man after suffering pleurisy.