Pope Francis suffered a bronchial spasm on Friday that resulted in him breathing in vomit, requiring non-invasive mechanical ventilation, the Vatican said in relaying a setback in his two-week long battle against double pneumonia.
The 88-year-old pope responded well, with a good level of gas exchange, and remained conscious and alert at all times, the Vatican said in its late update.
The development marked a setback in what had been two successive days of increasingly upbeat reports from doctors treating Francis at Rome’s Gemelli hospital since Feb. 14.
The episode, which occurred in the early afternoon, resulted in a “sudden worsening of the respiratory picture.” Doctors decided to keep his prognosis as guarded.
The Vatican has already made alternative plans for Ash Wednesday next week, making clear Francis still had a long road ahead. Cardinal Angelo De Donatis, a Vatican official and former vicar of Rome, will preside over the March 5 ceremony and procession that inaugurates the church’s solemn Lenten season leading up to Easter in April.
Earlier Friday, Francis had spent the morning alternating high flows of supplemental oxygen with a mask and praying in the chapel. He had had breakfast, read the day’s newspapers and was receiving respiratory physiotherapy, the Vatican said.
Doctors did not resume referring to Francis in “critical condition,” which has been absent from their statements for three days.
Doctors on Thursday still said Francis’ “prognosis remains guarded,” suggesting that they did not think he was out of danger.
Francis spent Thursday morning in respiratory therapy. Later, he prayed in the chapel of his private suite in Rome’s Gemelli Hospital, where he also received the Eucharist. After that, the pope attended to Vatican work responsibilities.
Francis, the leader of the Catholic Church, was admitted to Gemelli Hospital on Feb. 14 with a case of bronchitis that soon worsened to double pneumonia. This hospital stay is his longest during his time as pope. He is prone to lung infections, having had part of a lung removed when he was a young man.
It is not yet clear how his illness will affect his participation in the Lenten season, which begins on March 5 on Ash Wednesday and leads up to Holy Week and then Easter, on which according to Christian tradition Jesus was resurrected in Jerusalem.
Some of the faithful who have journeyed to Rome to see the Vatican and possibly the pope have altered their plans and are now saying prayers for Francis outside Gemelli Hospital for his full recovery.
Lili Iparea Fernandez, from La Cruz, Mexico, traveled to Rome with other pilgrims from Mexico, hoping to participate in Francis’ general audience this week. When that was canceled, she decided to pray for him outside the hospital instead.
“We firmly believe that the pope will recover because he is a very strong man,” she said Thursday. “So I invite everyone to believe firmly, with certainty, with confidence, with hope that the pope is going to be well.”
The pope’s illness has prompted Catholics to gather in Vatican City, his native Argentina and other areas of the world to hold prayer vigils.
Francis has been pope since 2013 when his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, resigned.
Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
