Catholics around the world pray for Pope Francis, still in "critical condition" but with "slight improvement"
Pope Francis , hospitalized in Rome with bilateral pneumonia, remains in critical condition but is showing "slight improvement," the Vatican announced Monday evening, as concern grows for the 88-year-old Argentine pontiff.
"The Holy Father's clinical condition, although still critical, has shown a slight improvement. There were no episodes of asthmatic respiratory crisis today; some laboratory tests have improved," the Holy See said in a statement, on the 11th day of his hospitalization, the longest since his election in 2013.
The "mild kidney failure" he has been suffering from since Sunday "is not a cause for concern," he said.
Francis, 88, even resumed his professional activities and called the "priest of the Gaza parish to express his support," as he has done often since the start of the Israeli military offensive in the Palestinian territory more than a year ago.
A Vatican source said earlier on Monday that Francis was able to get up and eat normally, was not in pain and his spirits remained "good."
The health of the head of the Catholic Church, hospitalized since February 14, deteriorated on Saturday with " a prolonged asthmatic attack requiring high-flow oxygen " as well as hematological problems requiring "the administration of a blood transfusion."
His medical team stated in recent days that Jorge Bergoglio was not "out of danger."
Abele Donati, head of the anesthesia and intensive care unit at the Marche University Hospital in central Italy, told Italian daily Corriere della Sera on Monday that kidney failure "could indicate the presence of sepsis in the early stages."
"It is the body's response to an ongoing infection, in this case of both lungs," he explained.
Prayers around the world for the health of Pope FrancisOn Sunday, faithful gathered again to lay flowers outside Rome's Gemelli hospital, where Francis is being treated in a specially equipped ward on the 10th floor, which includes a small chapel, where he took part in Sunday Mass.
In Rome, Buenos Aires and the rest of the world, especially in Latin America, numerous prayers were organized for the Pope's health.
On Monday at 9:00 p.m. (Rome time) there will be a prayer for the Pope and the sick in St. Peter's Square, led by the Secretary of State and number two of the Holy See, Italian Cardinal Pietro Parolin.
"Praying together is the idea of communion, of being together in this important moment of uncertainty," said Christophe Gosselin, the priest in charge of youth ministry at Saint Louis des Frances in Rome, who invited parishioners to attend a candlelight procession.
At 5:00 p.m. (Buenos Aires time), the Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Jorge Ignacio García Cuerva, will lead a mass to pray for the health of Pope Francis in Plaza Constitución.
"We Argentines have often not allowed Bergoglio to be Francis," the archbishop said in radio statements. Amid concerns about the Holy Father's health, García Cuerva said that "the Pope is the father who needs everyone's prayers."
The Pope's health has fueled speculation about his ability to remain in officeThe Argentine pope was admitted to hospital eleven days ago with bronchitis, which led to bilateral pneumonia, a potentially fatal infection of the lung tissue.
The hospitalization, the fourth since 2021, has raised serious concerns about the pope's health, which has already been weakened by a series of problems in recent years, from colon and abdominal operations to difficulties walking.
Jorge Bergoglio's health problems have fueled speculation about his ability to lead the world's nearly 1.4 billion Catholics, even though canon law makes no provision for a serious problem that would affect his lucidity.
Speculation also arose about the pope's possible resignation, although he repeatedly said that the time had not come.
"The Pope is alive and now is the time to pray, not to think about who will be his successor," the conservative German cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller, one of his most virulent opponents, told the daily Corriere della Sera.
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