Vatican issues Pope Francis health update as pontiff’s hospital treatment changes after he was put on ventilator

The Vatican has tonight issued a fresh update on the health of Pope Francis a little more than a day after the Pontiff was put on a ventilator after suffering an ‘isolated’ breathing crisis.

The Pope, 88, has not suffered any new respiratory attacks today and remains in a stable condition, the Vatican announced in its Saturday evening update. 

‘The Holy Father’s clinical condition remains stable,’ a statement read. 

‘He is alternating between non-invasive mechanical ventilation and long periods of supplemental high-flow oxygenation, maintaining a good response to gas exchange.

‘The Holy Father does not have a fever and shows no leukocytosis [high white blood cell count].

‘His haemodynamic parameters have always remained stable; he has continued eat on his own and has regularly undergone respiratory physiotherapy, in which he cooperates actively. He has not experienced any further episodes of bronchospasm.

‘The Holy Father remains alert and oriented. He received the Eucharist on Saturday afternoon, then devoted himself to prayer.

‘The prognosis remains guarded.’

Francis had suffered a coughing fit late on Friday in which he had inhaled vomit before doctors put him on a non-invasive mechanical ventilation

Well-wishers are continuing to gather at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital this evening where the Pope is recovering

 This evening’s update comes just hours after the Vatican announced that Francis had  coffee for breakfast and read the morning newspapers in a promising statement this morning.    

The Pontiff had been put on non-invasive mechanical ventilation on Friday by doctors at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital after suffering a coughing fit in which he inhaled vomit. The incident resulted in the ‘sudden worsening of the respiratory picture.’

Doctors aspirated the vomit and placed Francis on non-invasive mechanical ventilation.

The Pope remained conscious and alert at all times and co-operated with the manoeuvres to help him recover. He responded well, with a good level of oxygen exchange and was continuing to wear a mask to receive supplemental oxygen, the Vatican said.

The episode marked a setback after two days of increasingly upbeat reports from doctors who have been treating Francis at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital since February 14.

Crowds gather outside a statue of Pope John Paul II situated outside of the Gemelli Hospital

People attend a Rosary prayer for the health of Pope Francis on yesterday evening 

The Pope, who had part of one lung removed as a young man, has lung disease and was admitted after a bout of bronchitis worsened and turned into pneumonia in both lungs.

The Vatican said the episode was different to the prolonged respiratory crisis on February 22, in that it was an isolated spasm that resulted in Francis aspirating the vomit that he produced.

Dr John Coleman, a pulmonary critical care doctor at Northwestern Medicine in Chicago said: ‘I think this is extremely concerning, given the fact that the Pope has been in the hospital now for over two weeks, and now he’s continuing to have these respiratory events and now had this aspiration event that is requiring even higher levels of support.

‘So given his age and his fragile state and his previous lung resection, this is very concerning.’

Types of non-invasive ventilation include a BiPAP machine, which helps people breathe by pushing air into their lungs. 

Doctors often try such a machine for a while to see if the patient’s blood gas levels improve so they can eventually go back to using oxygen alone.

Pope Francis, pictured before his illness, has been in hospital since February 14

Doctors have not described Francis as being in ‘critical condition’ for three days now, but they say he is not out of danger, given the complexity of his case.

Late on Friday, Francis’s closest friend in the Vatican bureaucracy, Argentine Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernandez, led the nightly prayer in St Peter’s Square to pray for the pontiff’s health.

With other cardinals bundled against the night chill, he told the crowd: ‘Certainly it is close to the Holy Father’s heart that our prayer is not only for him, but also for all those who in this particular dramatic and suffering moment of the world bear the hard burden of war, of sickness, of poverty.’

Also on Friday, the Vatican published a document signed by Francis on February 26 as ‘From the Gemelli Polyclinic’, a new official tagline that showed Francis was still working from the hospital.