Pope Francis not out of danger, but expected to live, medical team says

By Joshua McElwee

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) -Pope Francis, who is being treated in hospital for double pneumonia, is not yet out of danger but is expected to live, one of his doctors said on Friday.

Francis is being treated at Rome's Gemelli hospital, where he was admitted on February 14 after struggling with breathing difficulties for several days.

"If the question is whether he is out of danger, the answer is no," Dr. Sergio Alfieri told a press conference. "But if you're asking whether he is currently in life-threatening danger, the answer is also no."

Double pneumonia is a serious infection that can inflame and scar both lungs, making it difficult to breathe. The Vatican has described the pope's infection as "complex" because it is polymicrobial, meaning it is being caused by two or more micro-organisms.

His medical team said the pope was able to get out of bed, sit in an armchair to do some work, and even visit the chapel in his self-contained apartment within the hospital.

But they predicted he would remain at the facility "at least" through the coming week.

Alfieri, on the medical staff at Gemelli, said that given the pope is 88, with prior health concerns, he was obviously a fragile patient.

He told reporters that the pope did not have sepsis, a potentially life-threatening condition when the body responds to an infection by harming its own tissue and organs.

However, Alfieri said there was still a risk that the infection could spread.

"If, unfortunately, one of these germs were to enter the bloodstream, any patient would develop sepsis, and sepsis, combined with his respiratory condition and age, could be very difficult to overcome," said Alfieri.

OXYGEN

Friday's press conference was the first with the medical team since the pope was admitted to hospital last week. No photos of Francis have been released out of respect for the pontiff's privacy, Alfieri said.

The update came after the Vatican said on Thursday that the pope's condition was "slightly improving" for a second day.

While the doctors said Francis was able to breathe on his own, they also confirmed for the first time that he was occasionally being provided oxygen via a tube under his nose.

Dr. Luigi Carbone, who said he was the pope's general practitioner at the Vatican, said Francis would stay at the hospital as long as necessary.

"As mentioned earlier, he is not out of danger, so like all fragile patients, it is always a delicate balance," he said.

"It would take very little for his condition to become unstable," said the doctor. "It is difficult to give a precise timeline at this moment."

RESIGNATION A 'DISTANT HYPOTHESIS'

Francis, who has been pope since 2013, has suffered bouts of ill health in the past two years. He is particularly prone to lung infections because as a young adult he developed pleurisy and had part of one lung removed.

One retired Catholic cardinal suggested on Thursday that Francis' fragile health could lead the pope to resign as leader of the 1.4 billion-member Catholic Church, as his late predecessor Pope Benedict XVI did.

But Francis has firmly ruled out resigning in the past, calling it in 2024 only a "distant hypothesis".

Francis is known for keeping a brisk schedule, sometimes holding dozens of meetings a day. Vatican officials expect his latest health crisis may lead him to slow down the pace.

All the pope's public engagements have been cancelled through Sunday and he has no further official events on the Vatican's published calendar.

(Reporting by Joshua McElwee and Crispian Balmer; Editing by Crispian Balmer and Ros Russell)