Pope Francis has had blood transfusions and is “suffering more than yesterday”, the Vatican has said.
The 88-year-old has been in hospital for more than a week being treated for double pneumonia and chronic bronchitis.
In an update on Saturday evening, the Vatican said “the Holy Father’s condition continues to be critical”, adding that this morning he “presented with a prolonged asthmatic respiratory crisis” and that he required blood transfusions after tests revealed thrombocytopenia, which is associated with anemia.
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Pope Francis ‘not out of danger’
“The Holy Father continues to be vigilant and spent the day in an armchair even though he was suffering more than yesterday. At the moment the prognosis is reserved,” the Vatican’s statement said.
In an update earlier on Saturday morning – the shortest since Francis was admitted to hospital on 14 February – the Vatican said he will not lead Sunday prayers for the second week running, adding: “The Pope rested well.”
Francis is likely to prepare a written homily for someone else to read at Sunday’s Angelus.
Millions of people around the world have been concerned about the Pope’s increasingly frail health – and his condition has given rise to speculation over a possible resignation, which the Vatican has not commented on.
Doctors on Friday said he was “not out of danger” and was expected to remain at Rome’s Gemelli hospital for at least another week.
Sergio Alfieri, the chief of the pontiff’s medical team, said: “Is he out of danger? No. But if the question is ‘is he in danger of death’, the answer is ‘no’.”
Sergio Alfieri (R) said Pope Francis was a ‘fragile patient’ but was in ‘good spirits’. Pic: AP
He said Francis was affected by seasonal flu before being taken to hospital and that, “due to his challenging duties”, he had suffered fatigue.
He is also fighting a multipronged infection of bacteria and viruses in the respiratory tract.
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The doctors warned that while he did not have sepsis – where germs enter the bloodstream – there was always a risk the infection could spread in his body, and they said that was the biggest concern.
Sepsis is a complication of an infection that can lead to organ failure and death.
Pope Francis has a history of respiratory illness, having lost part of one of his lungs to pleurisy as a young man. He had an acute case of pneumonia in 2023.