The Vatican continued its Holy Year celebrations without the Pope on Saturday.
Pope Francis is battling pneumonia and a severe respiratory infection, which doctors say is still a question mark and likely keep him in the hospital for another week.
Francis slept well overnight, according to Vatican spokesperson Matteo Bruni, who provided a brief update Saturday morning.
However, physicians have warned that the major hazard to the 88-year-old Francis is the development of sepsis, a deadly blood infection that can occur as a consequence of pneumonia.
As of Friday, there was no evidence of sepsis, and Francis was responding to the numerous drugs he was receiving, according to the pope’s medical staff in their first comprehensive update on his status.
“He is not out of danger,” said his personal physician, Dr. Luigi Carbone. “So, like all fragile patients, I say they are always on the golden scale: In other words, it takes very little to become unbalanced.”
Francis, who has chronic lung problems, was taken to Gemelli Hospital on February 14 after his bronchitis deteriorated over the course of a week.
Doctors detected a complicated viral, bacterial, and fungal respiratory tract illness, followed by pneumonia in both lungs.They recommended “absolute rest” and a mixture of cortisone and antibiotics, as well as supplemental oxygen as necessary.
Carbone admitted that he persisted in staying at the Vatican to work even though he was sick “due to institutional and private commitments.”
Carbone, together with Francis’ personal nurse, Massimiliano Strappetti, planned care for him at the Vatican.
Before being admitted to the hospital, he received care from a cardiologist and an infectious expert, in addition to his personal medical team.
According to Dr. Sergio Alfieri, the most serious concern Francis faces is that some of the microorganisms found in his respiratory system will enter his bloodstream and cause sepsis.
Dr. Alfieri is the chief of medicine and surgery at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital. He explained that sepsis can cause organ failure and death.
“Sepsis, with his respiratory problems and his age, would be really difficult to get out of,” Alfieri told a press conference Friday at Gemelli.
“The English say, ‘knock on wood,’ we say ‘touch iron.’ Everyone touch what they want,” he said as he tapped the microphone.
“But this is the real risk in these cases, that these germs pass to the bloodstream. He knows he’s in danger. And he told us to relay that,” Alfieri said.
Meanwhile, deacons gathered at the Vatican for a special Jubilee weekend..Francis became ill at the opening of the Vatican’s Holy Year, a celebration of Catholicism that occurs every quarter century.
This weekend, Francis was meant to celebrate deacons, a church ministry that precedes priesthood ordination.The Holy Year organizer will take his place and celebrate Sunday’s Mass, the Vatican announced. And, for the second weekend in a row, Francis was slated to forego his traditional Sunday midday benediction, which he could have delivered from Gemelli if he felt up to it.
“Look, even though he’s not [physically] here, we know he’s here,” said Luis Arnaldo Lopez Quirindongo, a deacon from Ponce, Puerto Rico who was at the Vatican on Saturday for the Jubilee celebration.
“He’s recovering, but he’s in our hearts and is accompanying us because our prayers and his go together.”
Aside from that, physicians have stated that Francis’ rehabilitation will take time and that he will have to deal with his persistent respiratory difficulties while in the Vatican.
“He has to get over this infection, and we all hope he gets over it,” said Alfieri. “But the fact is, all doors are open.”
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