The 88-year-old pontiff has been hospitalised since 14th February with pneumonia in both lungs and breathing difficulties.
Pope Francis remained in stable condition and didn’t need any mechanical ventilation on Sunday, the Vatican said.
It is a sign that the pope has overcome possible complications from a respiratory crisis on Friday and that his breathing is improving as he remains in hospital with pneumonia.
Doctors said the pope continued to receive supplemental high-flow oxygenation after a coughing episode on Friday which sparked fears that he may have a new lung infection.
The update concluded that the pope was stable but that his clinical picture remains “complex” and kept his prognosis as “guarded”, meaning the pontiff is not yet out of danger.
Francis, who has been hospitalised since 14 February, prayed in his private chapel and participated in Mass on Sunday after a morning visit from the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, and his chief of staff, Archbishop Edgar Pena Parra.
He skipped his weekly noon blessing, instead distributing a message in which he thanked his doctors for their care and the well-wishers for their prayers.
“From here, war appears even more absurd,” Francis said in the message, which he drafted in recent days.
“I feel in my heart the ‘blessing’ that is hidden within frailty, because it is precisely in these moments that we learn even more to trust in the Lord,” Francis said in the text. “At the same time, I thank God for giving me the opportunity to share in body and spirit the condition of so many sick and suffering people.”
Many signs indicate the pope’s condition is improving after a respiratory crisis on Friday afternoon resulted in him inhaling vomit during a coughing fit.
Longest hospital stay
The pope has lung disease and was admitted to hospital on 14th February after a bout of bronchitis worsened into complex pneumonia in both lungs.
His current hospitalization is his fourth, and longest, since he became pope in 2013.
The pontiff has suffered from lung-related issues for much of his life after having part of one lung removed as a young man.
His schedule has been cleared to accommodate his intensive medical treatment — he did not lead the Angelus prayer on Sunday for the third week in a row.
He is also set to not lead next week’s Ash Wednesday service marking the start of Lent, for only the second time in his twelve year’s as pope. A cardinal is expected to replace him.
On Friday, as he prayed for the pope’s health, Argentine Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández said: “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.”
The Vatican has been releasing two daily updates on the pope’s health.
Additional sources • AP
