Early this evening (UTC +1 – Rome time), the Associated Press reported that our Holy Father Pope Francis is in critical condition. Shortly thereafter, CNN reported a statement from the Vatican, that “[t]his [Saturday] morning Pope Francis presented with an asthmatic respiratory crisis of prolonged magnitude, which also required the application of oxygen at high flows.” The Holy Father “continues to be alert and spent the day in an armchair,” albeit “in more pain than yesterday.”
Dr. Sergio Alfieri, head of medicine and surgery at the Gemelli hospital where the pope is being treated, is quoted in the AP story as saying that the risk of sepsis, from the infection in the pope’s lungs passing into his bloodstream, is the primary threat: “Sepsis, with his respiratory problems and his age, would be really difficult to get out of.”
“He knows he is in danger,” Dr. Alfieri continued, “And he told us to convey that.”
Today is the Feast of the Chair of St. Peter, the feast of the papal office and a day on which Catholics are asked to pray for the pope, even under ordinary conditions. Let us redouble our efforts and pray for the Holy Father; a prayer is found at the end of Ariane Sroubek’s February 17 article on the Pope’s hospitalization.
Image: Gary Todd from Xinzheng, China, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Dr. Paul Chu is currently a philosophy instructor for CTState, the Connecticut Community College, and has previously taught philosophy in college, university, and seminary settings. He also served as a staff writer and editor for various national publications. He is co-founder of Sacred Beauty, a Private Association of the Faithful in the Diocese of Bridgeport dedicated to honoring the beauty and holiness of God through artistic and intellectual creativity founded in prayer, especially Eucharistic contemplation. He contributes regularly to https://questionsdisputedandotherwise.substack.com/.
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