Volkswacht Bodensee - Pope slept all night, resting after two breathing attacks: Vatican

The 88-year-old was admitted to Rome's Gemelli hospital on February 14 with bronchitis, which developed into pneumonia in both lungs, sparking alarm.

On Monday, the pope "experienced two episodes of acute respiratory failure, caused by a significant accumulation of endobronchial mucus and consequent bronchospasm", the Vatican had said in its evening update.

Acute respiratory failure, which can be life-threatening, occurs when the lungs cannot pass enough oxygen into the blood or when carbon dioxide builds up in the body.

The Holy See added that Francis's prognosis remained "reserved", an indication that doctors cannot predict the likely outcome of his condition.

On Tuesday morning, it issued a typically brief update saying: "The pope slept all night long and continues to rest."

It was the third crisis the Argentine pontiff has suffered since his admission to the Gemelli, where he is being treated in a special papal suite on the 10th floor.

On February 22, he suffered a "prolonged asthmatic respiratory crisis", followed on February 28 by "an isolated crisis of bronchospasm" -- a tightening of the muscles that line the airways in the lungs.

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Medical experts warned Francis's continued hospitalisation -- the longest of his 12-year papacy -- and the repeated crises were alarming.

"At 88 years old, being in the hospital for two weeks and having repeated episodes of respiratory discomfort is a very bad sign," Bruno Crestani, head of the pulmonology department at Bichat hospital in Paris, told AFP.

Herve Pegliasco, head of pulmonology at the European Hospital in Marseille, added that with double pneumonia, "there is the issue of exhaustion, because he is forced to make much more effort to breathe".

The Vatican said on Monday the pope was alert and cooperative during his crisis, which required two separate bronchoscopies, where doctors look into the air passages using a small camera at the base of a flexible tube.

The head of the world's almost 1.4 billion Catholics has been working during his time in the Gemelli, talking on the telephone and receiving some officials, according to Vatican sources.

But Francis has not been seen in public for almost three weeks and the last photos taken of him were from his private audiences on the morning of his admission to hospital.

The Argentine missed his traditional Angelus prayer for a third straight Sunday and the Vatican issued a written text instead.

In it, the pope thanked the well-wishers around the world who have been holding prayers for his recovery, including outside the hospital and every evening at Saint Peter's Square in the Vatican.

"I feel all your affection and closeness and, at this particular time, I feel as if I am 'carried' and supported by all God's people. Thank you all."

Francis has suffered numerous health issues in recent years, from colon surgery in 2021 to a hernia operation in 2023, and uses a wheelchair due to hip and knee pain.

He has always left open the option of resigning if his health declined, following the example set by his predecessor, German theologian Benedict XVI, but had before his hospitalisation repeatedly dismissed the idea.

L.Meier--VB