Pope's Health Is a 'Complex Clinical Picture'

Pope Francis' respiratory tract infection is presenting a "complex clinical picture" that will require further hospitalization, the Vatican said Monday as concerns grew about the increasingly frail health of the 88-year-old pontiff. Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said the results of tests conducted in recent days indicate the pope is suffering from a "polymicrobial respiratory tract infection" that has necessitated a further change in his drug therapy. Scientists say polymicrobial diseases are caused by a mix of viruses, bacteria, fungi, and parasites. There was no timeframe given for his hospitalization, which has already sidelined Francis for longer than a 2023 hospitalization for pneumonia, reports the AP. Bruni said the complexity of his symptoms "will require an appropriate hospital stay."

Francis, who had part of one lung removed after a pulmonary infection as a young man, was admitted to Rome's Gemelli hospital in a "fair" condition on Friday after a weeklong bout of bronchitis worsened. Doctors confirmed a respiratory tract infection and prescribed "absolute rest" alongside unspecified drug therapies. Subsequent updates said his slight fever had gone away and that he was in "stable" condition. Bruni said Francis ate breakfast and read the newspapers Monday morning after a third peaceful night.

In a sign Francis was still keeping up with some of the essentials of his routine, the parish priest of the Catholic Church in Gaza, the Rev. Gabriel Romanelli, revealed that Francis had maintained his daily videocall to the church on Friday and Saturday night. He sent a text message on Sunday. "We heard his voice. It's true, it was more tired," Romanelli told Vatican News. "But we heard his voice clearly and he listened to us," said the Argentine priest, whom Francis has phoned every day since the war began. The Argentine pope is a known workaholic who keeps a grueling pace despite his increasingly precarious health. In addition to his frequent bouts of respiratory infections in winter, he uses a wheelchair, walker, or cane because of bad knees and suffers from sciatica nerve pain.

(More Pope Francis stories.)