VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) — Pope Francis has suspended his use of an oxygen mask, doctors announced Wednesday, as they pointed to his continued improvement.
In a very brief medical bulletin issued via the Holy See Press Office, doctors treating Pope Francis attested to a continued improvement in his condition, an improvement which they have documented since March 10.
They wrote:
The Holy Father’s clinical condition continues to improve. The Holy Father has suspended non-invasive mechanical ventilation and also reduced the need for high-flow oxygen therapy.
Progress continues in motor and respiratory physiotherapy.
This morning, on the solemnity of St. Joseph, the Holy Father concelebrated Holy Mass.
Their details were notably shorter than previous such bulletins. Citing Francis’ slow but apparently continued improvement, the once nightly medical bulletins have now reduced to two or three times a week. Even so, such details tonight barely amount to a medical bulletin.
Francis was also described as having concelebrated Mass on Sunday; evidence of that was an image released of him. The image, taken from behind and as such not showing his face or features, was the first since he entered hospital on February 14.
Additional details from the Press Office noted that according to the doctors, Francis’ lung infections remain but “are under control.”
They added that his clinical test results are “within the norm” and that he “continues to be fever-free.”
Francis spent the day continuing with his various therapies, working and praying.
But in a notable aspect, the Vatican added that no decision had yet been taken about his participation in the Holy Week ceremonies, with many analysts suggesting that even with a return to the Vatican, Francis would be unlikely to have an active role in Holy Week.
Citing his stable condition, a medical report is now not expected before next week.
The Pope has now been in Rome’s Gemelli Hospital for 33 days, after he was taken there for bronchitis and double pneumonia.
Since March 3 – after a double respiratory failure that day – he had been using the oxygen mask at night and the high-flow nasal cannulas during the day. With his usage of the nightly oxygen mask now curtailed, it would suggest that the respiratory condition is indeed more stable, even though doctors’ information is sparing.
As of March 10, his prognosis has been lifted, meaning he is no longer in imminent danger from the infections he arrived to hospital with, though his longer-term diagnosis has not been released.
While doctors have expressed a cautious happiness at his condition, no signs about his discharge from hospital have been made, nor a longer term plan for his care revealed.
Since February 24 the Vatican has been staging nightly Rosaries for the health of the Pope. These now take place at 7:30pm local time and it is not known for how long.
It has become the longest hospital stay of his pontificate, with the previous longest being a stay of 10 days during the summer of 2021, and is currently the second-longest papal hospitalization at 33 full days – second only to John Paul II’s 55-day stay in 1981.
On Sunday, February 23, Francis showed signs of “mild” kidney failure, though in subsequent days doctors said they were not concerned by the symptoms.
His condition now has been stable since the evening update of March 4, though doctors have previously warned that it can change drastically in a short space of time.
An audio recording of the Pope was played just before the nightly Rosary in St. Peter’s Square March 6, in which Francis thanked all present for their prayers for his health. His voice was notably strained in the very brief recording – a recording that Matteo Bruni, director of the Vatican Press Office, said was the Pope’s own decision to make and release.
For full background on the Pope’s hospitalization, see LifeSiteNews’ coverage here.
