Pope Francis is in ‘critical condition,’ Vatican says

ROME – Pope Francis is in “critical condition,” the Vatican said Saturday, after a “prolonged asthmatic crisis” and a low platelet count. They said he was alert and sitting in an armchair, but suffering more pain than the day before.

The update Saturday came less than 24 hours after doctors gave mixed messages on the health of the 88-year-old pontiff. The medical team told reporters Friday that “the pope is fine” and was “working” but remained in significant danger as he battled double pneumonia.

Doctors treated his respiratory crisis with more oxygen, the Vatican said Saturday, and his thrombocytopenia – a deficiency in platelets, which clot the blood – with transfusions.

It was the first Vatican statement to use the word “critical” since he was hospitalized on Feb. 14. But Vatican officials said the assessment given by the doctors Friday amounted to critical condition, so the update Saturday said his “condition continues to be critical.”

They described his prognosis as “reserved,” meaning impossible to predict.

“The Holy Father continues to be alert and spent the day in an armchair even if he was in more pain than yesterday,” the Vatican said.

Francis, who as a youth had part of one lung removed and is prone to winter bouts of bronchitis, was admitted to Rome’s Agostino Gemelli Polyclinic hospital on Valentine’s Day.

Preliminary tests indicated he had a respiratory tract infection and was running a slight fever, the Vatican said. But in subsequent updates, officials described his condition as “complex.” News that he had contracted pneumonia in both lungs, an unusual admission from an institution that’s typically cautious in describing the health of the pope, triggered more alarm.

Doctors said Friday he would remain in the hospital for at least another week, and his schedule was cleared for several days.

Doctors, whose news conference Friday was their first since his hospitalization, said he had been responding to treatment, which had been “enhanced” based on test results. But they warned his condition was fragile, and did not rule out potentially fatal complications.

One senior Vatican official and Francis ally, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the pope’s health, said Francis was expected to remain hospitalized through early March, which would amount to his longest hospital stay since becoming pope in 2013.

Francis has suffered from health issues and reduced mobility for years. This hospitalization is his fourth as pope.

In 2021, he 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 had abdominal surgery in June 2023 to remove scar tissue and repair a hernia.

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.