(ZENIT News / Rome, 21.02.2025).- Around 5:30 pm today, a press conference was held with Doctors attending Pope Francis, near the entrance area of Rome’s Gemelli Hospital (where he is hospitalized). The Doctors were Sergio Alfieri, leader of the team of the Gemelli Polyclinic, and Luigi Carbone, Deputy Director of the Health and Hygiene Service of Vatican City State.
The Doctors began by giving a general report on the Pope’s state of health, and then answered journalists’ questions. “If the question is: Is the Pope out of danger? No, not yet. But is his life in danger now? The answer, once again, is no. A few minutes ago he left his room to go to the Chapel to pray. His head is that of a 50-year-old man. But he says: “I realize that the situation is serious.” The chronic ailment continues, sometimes he can’t breathe, the sensation isn’t pleasant for anyone.” That was one of the interventions that in good measure summarizes and condenses the close to 40 minutes that the press conference lasted.
Mention was made that Pope Francis began his medical care in Santa Marta, in the Vatican, and subsequently also therapy. This confirms that he was well attended from the beginning. Only when it was seen that it wasn’t sufficient, he was taken to and hospitalized in the Gemelli. The Doctors evidenced that the Pope was not in bed in his hospital room or connected to any apparatus. He moves freely and has contact with two or three collaborators, with whom he continues his pastoral work every day.
Noted also is that the pneumonia continues in both lungs, and that there is no desire to hide anything. His “will is to communicate without hiding anything, but there are days when there is not much to communicate,” because days or even weeks are necessary to see the efficacy of the therapies.
The Doctors have stressed that the Pope “Is still not out of danger.” “The question is: Is the Pope out of danger? No. The Pope is not out of danger. The possibilities are open. Because, such an important infection, with so many microbes, then with the appearance of a bilateral pneumonia, in a gentleman who doesn’t walk much (we see him, he is in a wheelchair), who is 88 years old, isn’t something simple. And they added: “The therapy is not always easy to balance. He is given cortisone to breathe, but that lowers his immune defenses, his blood sugar rises and is a breeding ground for infections … . . it’s not an easy job, he is not out of danger.”
Responding to Questions of Several Journalists
A journalist asked how long the Pope would remain in hospital and what type of convalescence is foreseen, to which the Doctors replied: “The Pope reads, signs documents, jokes but he has bilateral pneumonia. Pneumonia takes time. How much longer will he stay here? Until the hospital therapies are no longer necessary (. . . ) and for the time being we don’t consider it prudent,, because he would start to work again as before.” And they specified that he will stay in hospital “at least the whole of next week.”
They also stated that the situation could change from one day to another, as he is not out of danger, he is at the limit and little is needed to become unbalanced. “It’s difficult to give a calendar.”
Another journalist asked if they had recommended that he not say the Angelus on Sunday (the 23rd of February), to which the Doctors responded that they only advise, but it’s the Pope who decides.
Echoing the relation between the Pontiff’s state of health and suggesting the risk that he might not concluded the Jubilee, another journalist asked how the latter is affected: we must concentrate on overcoming this phase. This is the fundamental thing,» they answered.
They also asked if he responds positively to the different therapies. The answer was: “He is responding. They weren’t changed, they were enhanced.”
Moreover, it was noted that there aren’t images of the Pope and on what would this depend, to which Dr Alfieri answered” “Do we want a photo of the Pope in pyjamas in the newspapers?” And he added: “We must respect his privacy. Let’s not give headlines or fake news. Sergio Alfieri is accused by the Prosecutor’s Office of Rome of falsification along with six other colleagues. He is accused that in almost thirty cases he affirmed he was in the operating room when he had not really been there, according to the accusation. He did operate on the Pope in the past.
About the most important risk they are facing, they state clearly, directly and categorically that it is sepsis. “The Pope knows he is in danger. It could be that those germs, which today are in his respiratory track and in the lungs, could go unfortunately to the blood and develop septicemia. And sepsis, at his age and in his state, would be difficult . . . the real risk in these cases is that the germs go to the blood. The risk is sepsis.”
Vatican Denial
At 4:11 pm today, the Holy See Press Office issued a press release, referring to the news published by RAI News 24, denying that there was a meeting yesterday between the Holy Father and Cardinals Gianfranco Ghirlanda and Pietro Parolin.
ZENIT is offering updates in real time on the Pope’s health in its whatsapp channel and on Twitter.
