Pope Francis ‘not yet out of danger’ and to stay at least another week in hospital

Pope Francis, who is in hospital undergoing treatment for double pneumonia, is “not yet out of danger” and will remain in hospital for at least the whole of next week, one of his doctors has said.

Francis, 88, was stable but “the chronic illness remains”, Sergio Alfieri, a general surgeon at Rome’s Gemelli university hospital, told reporters on Friday.

“Is he out of danger? No. But if the question is ‘is he in danger of death?’, the answer is [also] ‘no’,” Alfieri said, adding that the pope was aware of how serious the situation was. “The pope knows this. He said: ‘I realise that the situation is serious’,” he said.

Francis was admitted to hospital last Friday after suffering from what he said was bronchitis for more than a week. He was later diagnosed with a respiratory tract infection and pneumonia on both lungs, a combination which doctors said made his therapeutic treatment more complex.

The pope was “in good humour”, Alfieri said, and on Friday visited the hospital’s chapel to pray. He was also able to do some work, but his health condition could “change day to day” so he would remain in hospital for the whole of next week at least.

The pope was taking a “significant” medication load and would not be discharged until he was fully out of the woods, because if he returned home, he would just start working again, said Alfieri. “We need to focus on getting through this phase … the pope is not a person who gives up.”

Sergio Alfieri, a general surgeon at Gemelli University hospital in Rome, told reporters the pope was ‘in good humour’. Photograph: Giuseppe Lami/EPA

Alfieri said the pope was “a fragile patient” given his previous health concerns. However, he stressed that the pontiff was “not attached to any machinery” and when he needed to, he put on the nasal cannula “for a little oxygen”, but otherwise he “breathes spontaneously and feeds himself”.

He said the pope did not have sepsis, a potentially life-threatening condition when a body responds to an infection by harming its own tissue and organs. However, he said there was always a risk that the infection could spread.

Francis had part of his lung removed in his early 20s while he was training to be a priest in his native Argentina.

Before his hospital admission, the pope maintained an intense schedule, especially with events related to the Catholic jubilee year.

He was admitted to hospital in March 2023 for what was eventually diagnosed as pneumonia. He also underwent a colon operation in June 2021.

The pope has often been seen using a wheelchair or a walking stick as a result of sciatic nerve pain and a knee problem.