Pope Francis set to be discharged from hospital on Sunday: doctors
Gemelli Hospital medical director Dr. Sergio Alfieri announced Saturday that Pope Francis is expected to be discharged on Sunday.
The Vatican also announced that the pontiff would appear publicly on Sunday morning to bless the faithful from his 10th floor suite at the hospital. He will then return to the Vatican.
At a press conference, Alfieri said the Holy Father experienced "two very critical episodes" during his hospitalization when his life was in danger but has since shown a "slow but progressive" improvement due to "pharmacological therapy, the administration of high flow oxygen and assisted mechanical ventilation." The pope, however, was never intubated and never lost consciousness, Alfieri said.
Alfieri said Saturday that Francis will require at least two months of rest and rehabilitation as he continues recovering back at the Vatican. He said doctors advise the pontiff not to meet large groups or activities in public during that recovery time.
Alfieri was joined by the head physician of the Vatican's Health and Hygiene Office, Luigi Carbone, and the pope's spokesperson, Matteo Bruni, in the entry hall of Rome's Agostino Gemelli Polyclinic, where Pope Francis has been treated since Feb. 14 after a bout of bronchitis worsened. The pope was hospitalized for 38 days while battling a life-threatening case of pneumonia in both lungs, his doctors said.
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The pope experienced "acute respiratory failure due to a polymicrobial infection," Alfieri said.
The Saturday evening briefing was the first in-person update on the pontiff's condition since Feb. 21, a week after the 88-year-old Francis was brought to Gemelli hospital. He subsequently experienced several respiratory crises that landed him in critical condition, though he has since stabilized. Due to the double pneumonia, Alfieri told reporters that the pope's voice has been damaged but that it will improve with time.
The doctor added that recovery would best continue away from the hospital, where exposure to viruses risks weakening the Holy Father's condition. Alfieri said the pope did not have COVID-19, but he had been exposed to various viruses.
While Francis released an audio message on March 6 and the Vatican distributed a photo of him March 16, Sunday’s blessing will be the first live appearance since Francis was admitted on Feb. 14 for what has become the longest hospitalization of his 12-year papacy. The Argentine pope, who has chronic lung disease, is prone to respiratory problems in winter and had part of one lung removed as a young man.
When the pope was admitted, doctors first diagnosed a complex bacterial, viral and fungal respiratory tract infection and soon thereafter, pneumonia in both lungs.
Blood tests showed signs of anemia, low blood platelets and the onset of kidney failure, all of which later resolved after two blood transfusions, according to officials.
The most serious setbacks began on Feb. 28, when Francis experienced an acute coughing fit and inhaled vomit, requiring him to use a noninvasive mechanical ventilation mask to help him breathe. He suffered two more respiratory crises in the following days, which required doctors to manually aspirate the mucus, at which point he began sleeping with the ventilation mask at night to help his lungs clear the accumulation of fluids.
Over the past two weeks, the Vatican press office reported that the pope has stabilized, no longer needs to wear the ventilation mask at night, and is cutting back his reliance on high flows of supplemental oxygen during the day.
Alfieri said the pope does not have double pneumonia anymore but still has some infections and must continue to heal.
Fox News' Courteney Walsh and the Associated Press contributed to this report.