Pope Francis shows further slight improvement as he battles pneumonia, the Vatican says

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ROME (AP) — Pope Francis has shown further slight improvement as he battles double pneumonia, but doctors said Wednesday his prognosis is still guarded.

A chest CT scan taken Tuesday evening showed the “normal evolution” of an infection as it is being treated, the Vatican said in its late update. The 88-year-old pope, who had part of one lung removed as a young man, is still receiving high flows of supplemental oxygen but hasn’t had any more respiratory crises since Saturday.

Blood tests, which had shown some low platelet counts and anemia, have confirmed an improvement and the slight kidney insufficiency detected a few days ago has receded, the statement said.

Francis is continuing to receive respiratory physiotherapy, the statement said. It was the first time the Vatican has confirmed Francis was receiving physiotherapy to help him expel fluid from his lungs.

A complex lung infection has kept the 88-year-old pope hospitalized in critical condition since Feb. 14. Francis has chronic lung disease and was admitted to Rome’s Gemelli hospital after a bout of bronchitis worsened. While doctors didn’t repeat that he was in critical condition in Wednesday’s update, as they have in recent days, they said his prognosis remained guarded, meaning he wasn’t out of danger.

The pope resumed work in the afternoon from his hospital room, after receiving the Eucharist in the morning. And in a sign the Holy See machinery was grinding on, the Vatican announced he had appointed four new bishops and approved the creation of a new fundraising initiative to encourage donations to the Holy See, which has been enduring a financial crisis for years.

Francis likely approved the bishop appointments awhile back and the new norms for the fundraising entity were approved Feb. 11, before he was hospitalized. But the announcements made them official and suggested Francis was still very much in charge and governing.

Pilgrims descend on the hospital to be closer to Francis

If he were to look out the hospital window from the 10th floor, he might see that a steady stream of well-wishers are lighting candles and leaving him balloons and get-well cards at the statue of St. John Paul II near the Gemelli entrance. It has become something of a makeshift pilgrimage destination, especially for church groups in town for the Vatican’s Holy Year.

On Wednesday, Bishop Gerardo Villalonga from Menorca, Spain led a group of 50 pilgrims to the site, saying they wanted to be as close to him as possible.

“Because when a family has someone who is sick it is very important that they are surrounded, it is necessary that everyone is near to them, and all the people of God are close the pope,” he said.

At dusk, trumpeter Felice Carella and singer Davide Capuano serenaded the pope with a rendition of Schubert’s Ave Maria under his window.

“For me this is not a simple song, this is a big prayer for the pope so that he will better,” Capuano said. “These are terrible days and I hope the whole world can pray together with us.”

Cardinal Re picked to lead prayer vigil on Wednesday

The dean of the College of Cardinals, meanwhile, was designated to lead the Vatican’s prayer vigil in St. Peter’s Square on Wednesday night, thrusting a key figure in a future possible conclave into the spotlight. Francis recently extended the term of Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, 91, keeping him in the important job rather than naming someone new.

As is now popularly known thanks to the Oscar-nominated film “Conclave,” the dean is a key point of reference for cardinals. He presides over a papal funeral and organizes the conclave to elect a new pope.

From 2000-2010, Re was prefect of the Vatican’s congregation for bishops, one of the most powerful and influential positions in the Holy See. Francis made him dean in 2020 and confirmed him in the job in January despite the expiration of his five-year term.

The faithful from Francis’ homeland, meanwhile, gathered in the Argentine church of Rome for a special Mass presided over by Cardinal Baldassarre Reina, the pope’s vicar for Rome. Reina also celebrated the lunchtime Mass on Wednesday at Gemelli to pray for Francis.

Sister Nilda Trejo, an Argentine nun, said that she knew Francis’ health has always been delicate, with problems breathing and speaking loudly, and that’s why she always prayed for him.

“We knew that he often found it difficult,” she said. “In fact, you see that at the beginning of Mass, the microphone always has to be turned up because he has a bit of trouble. But he always spoke to the people. To the heart of the people.”

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