17 February 2025 , 19:37
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Pope Francis’ is battling a ‘complex and clinical’ medical condition that will require further hospital treatment, the Vatican said.
The Pope was admitted to Rome’s Gemelli hospital on Friday after suffering from a ‘polymicrobial respiratory tract infection’.
Spokesman Matteo Bruni said the results of tests indicate the 88-year-old Pope will require extensive drug therapy and an ‘appropriate hospital stay’.
There has been no timeframe given for his treatment at this time.
Francis was admitted to hospital last week after a bout of bronchitis began to worsen.
Doctors confirmed a respiratory tract infection and prescribed ‘absolute rest’ alongside unspecified drug therapies. Subsequent updates said his slight fever had gone away and that he was now in a ‘stable’ condition.
The Argentine pope, who had part of one lung removed after a pulmonary infection as a young man, is a known workaholic who keeps up a grueling pace despite his increasingly precarious health which has seen him hospitalised on a number of occasions in recent years.
When he had a bad case of pneumonia in 2023, he left after three days and only acknowledged after the fact that he had been admitted urgently after feeling faint and having a sharp pain in his chest.
Doctors have prescribed the Pope a period of ‘absolute rest’ (Picture: AP)
This time around, Francis insisted on finishing his morning audiences Friday before leaving the Vatican, even though he was having trouble speaking at length because he was short of breath.
The Holy See has only confirmed canceled appointments through Monday. Francis was supposed to have gone to Rome’s Cinecitta film studios to meet with artists as part of the Catholic Church’s Holy Year celebrations.
When he missed the Jubilee Mass dedicated to artists this past Sunday, a cardinal stood in for him.