Pope Francis, who has been in hospital for two weeks battling double pneumonia, has had another restful night and is now resting, the Vatican said on Friday, the 28th of February, but he will remain in hospital due to his complicated clinical situation, reports Reuters.
The 88-year-old Pope Francis was admitted to a Rome hospital on the 14th of February with an illness initially described as bronchitis.
The Vatican said on Thursday that the pontiff’s condition “continues to improve”, but that his condition remains precarious due to his complicated clinical situation.
A Vatican official said Thursday’s announcement was the second in a row in which the Pope’s condition was not described as “critical”.
“We can maybe say that he has overcome the most critical phase,” the official said.
Cardinal Michael Czerny, head of the Vatican’s Human Development Office, said in an interview with Italian newspaper La Stampa that Francis was getting better, albeit “more slowly than we would like”.
Francis, who has been Pope since 2013, has been frequently ill over the past two years. He is prone to lung infections, having contracted pleurisy when he was young and had part of one lung removed.
Double pneumonia is a serious infection of both lungs that can cause inflammation and scarring, making it difficult to breathe. The Vatican said that on Saturday Pope Francis suffered a “prolonged asthma-like respiratory crisis”, but that it has not recurred.
Pope Francis continues to slowly recover after two weeks in hospital
