His clinical picture is complex, said the Vatican

The Vatican reported Tuesday that Pope Francis has developed bilateral pneumonia, after new tests showed an additional complication in the condition of the 88 -year -old pontiff.

The Vatican explained that Francisco’s respiratory infection also involves asthmatic bronchitis, which required an antibiotic with cortisone.

«Laboratory tests, chest radiography and the clinical status of the Holy Father continue to present a complex clinical picture,» said the Vatican.

However, the Pope is in good mood and is grateful for the prayers for his recovery, said the spokesman of the Holy See, Matteo Bruni on Tuesday night.

The Vatican canceled the papal audiences on Tuesday Scheduled for the weekend and designated other prelates to replace Francisco while the Pope is still hospitalized.

Although other operations of the Vatican continued normally, the cancellations fogged the next acts of the Great Holy Year of the Vatican, a celebration of Catholicism that occurs every 25 years and aims to encourage pilgrims to go to Rome to participate in special activities of the special activities of the Jubilee.

The Holy Year is expected to attract some 30 million people to Rome, and include numerous special papal hearings and masses during all 2025, some of which are now in doubt by the disease of the Argentine Pontiff.

Francisco was admitted to the Gemelli hospital in Rome in a “regular” state on Friday, after the worsening of the bronchitis he had suffered for a week. On Monday, doctors determined that he suffered a polymicrobial respiratory infection, which means that a mixture of viruses, bacteria and possibly other organisms had stayed in their respiratory tract.

The Vatican has not indicated how long it could remain hospitalized, but pointed out that the treatment of a “complex clinical picture” like that, which has already required two changes in its medication regime, would require an “adequate” stay.

«The Pope is at risk of pneumonia due to this polymicrobial bronchitis,» said Dr. Carmelo D’Asero, an expert in infectious and geriatric diseases in Rome. «We will see the effect of this new therapy in four or five days.»

D’Asero, who does not participate in Francisco’s care, said that the absence of fever was not necessarily something positive, given the seriousness of his infection.

«A high fever is an immune response sign to a pathogen,» he said. “Having a low fever with a severe bronchial infection … It is a sign of a diminished immune response and that worries us, say, a little more. Maybe if I had a fever, it would have been better. ”

Francisco spent a quiet night again, had breakfast and read the newspapers on Tuesday morning, said Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni. It is expected that a more detailed medical part will later be made public.

On Monday, Francisco resumed part of his activity and made his daily call to a parish of the city of Gaza to ask for the Catholic community in the Palestinian enclave.

In a sign that other Vatican issues came on Tuesday, the number two of the Vatican, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, continued his delicate visit to Burkina Faso, and another high cardinal of the Vatican, Cardinal Michael Czerny, prepared to leave On Wednesday at a five -day visit to Lebanon.

But other issues had to be canceled. There will be no weekly general audience on Wednesday, and it is not known if Francisco will omit his blessing from Sunday at noon for the second consecutive week.

This year’s hospitalization has already separated it from his work for a longer time than a pneumonia hospitalization in 2023.