ROME: Pope Francis was in stable condition Tuesday and breathing with just the help of supplemental oxygen after respiratory crises a day earlier, but will resume using a ventilation mask at night, the Vatican said.
\nIn its late update, the Vatican said Francis had no further respiratory episodes during a day spent praying, resting and undergoing respiratory physiotherapy.
\nDoctors said that they would put the noninvasive mechanical ventilation mask back on him while he sleeps, but that during the day he was only using high flows of supplemental oxygen.
\nDoctors said his prognosis remains guarded, meaning he is not out of danger.
\nPope Francis stabilized enough after two respiratory crises to resume using a nasal tube for oxygen, rather than a ventilation mask, as he continued to fight pneumonia, the Vatican said earlier on Tuesday.
\nThe 88-year-old pope, who has chronic lung disease and had part of one lung removed as a young man, woke up after sleeping through the night. The fact that Francis no longer needed the mask by Tuesday morning was a sign of some improvement after crises that required doctors to extract \u201ccopious\u201d amounts of mucus from his lungs.
\nBut the doctors\u2019 prognosis remained guarded, meaning he was not out of danger.
\nThe Vatican said as of Tuesday morning, Francis no longer needed to wear the noninvasive mechanical ventilation mask that covers his nose and mouth to pump oxygen into his lungs and was just receiving high flows of supplemental oxygen through a nasal tube.
\nFrancis suffered two respiratory crises a day earlier. Doctors performed two bronchoscopies, in which a camera-tipped tube was sent into his airways with a sucker at the tip to suction out fluid. The pope remained alert, oriented and cooperated with medical personnel during the crises, the Vatican said.
\nHis medical team has not provided an in-person update on his condition since Feb. 21, a sign of the up-and-down nature of his hospitalization, the longest of his 12-year papacy.
\nArgentines pray for the pope at hospital
\nOn Tuesday, a group of Argentines from the country\u2019s embassies in Rome brought a statue of Our Lady of Lujan to the Gemelli hospital to pray for Francis. The Argentine pope is particularly devoted to the blue veiled Lujan Madonna, which has been revered in Argentina since the 17th century.
\n\u201cI am very happy to be now close to him,\u201d said the Rev. Fernando Laguna, parish priest of the Argentine church in Rome. \u201cI would like to hug him, but it\u2019s not possible, but he told us that a prayer is like a hug So I am happy despite the pain.\u201d
\nVatican prepares for Lent without Francis
\nFrancis\u2019 treatment comes as the Vatican prepares for Lent, the solemn period leading up to Easter on April 20. As it is, a cardinal has been designated to take Francis\u2019 place this week on Ash Wednesday, which opens Lent with a traditional service and procession in Rome. The pope was also supposed to attend a spiritual retreat this coming weekend with the rest of the Holy See hierarchy.
\nOn Tuesday, the Vatican said the retreat would go ahead without Francis but in \u201cspiritual communion\u201d with him. The theme, selected weeks ago and well before Francis got sick, was \u201cHope in eternal life.\u201d
\nFrancis, who is not physically active, uses a wheelchair and is overweight, had been undergoing respiratory physiotherapy to try to improve his lung function. The accumulation of secretions in his lungs was a sign that he doesn\u2019t have the muscle tone to cough vigorously enough to expel the fluid.
\nDoctors often use noninvasive ventilation to stave off intubation or the use of more invasive mechanical ventilation. Francis has not been intubated during this hospitalization. It\u2019s not clear if he has provided any instructions on the limits of his care if he declines seriously or loses consciousness.
\nCatholic teaching holds that life must be defended from conception until natural death. It insists that chronically ill patients, including those in vegetative states, must receive \u201cordinary\u201d care such as hydration and nutrition, but \u201cextraordinary\u201d or disproportionate care can be suspended if it is no longer beneficial or is only prolonging a precarious and painful life.
\nFrancis articulated that in a 2017 speech to a meeting of the Vatican\u2019s bioethics think tank, the Pontifical Academy for Life. He said there was \u201cno obligation to have recourse in all circumstances to every possible remedy.\u201d He added: \u201cIt thus makes possible a decision that is morally qualified as withdrawal of \u2018overzealous treatment.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ROME: Pope Francis was in stable condition Tuesday and breathing with just the help of supplemental oxygen after respiratory crises a day earlier, but will resume using a ventilation mask at night, the Vatican said. In its late update, the Vatican said Francis had no further respiratory episodes during a day spent praying, resting and …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":77964,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-77955","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77955","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77955"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77955\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77967,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77955\/revisions\/77967"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77964"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}