(22 Mar 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Rome, Italy – 22 March 2025
++BEGINS ON SOUNDBITE++
++AUDIO AS INCOMING++
1. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Sergio Alfieri, Gemelli Hospital:
"The Pope will be discharged tomorrow, that’s very important for everybody all over the world. The Holy Father, at the time of his admission to Gemelli Hospital, presented an acute respiratory failure due to polymicrobial infection—viruses, bacteria, and mycoses—that resulted in severe bilateral pneumonia that required a combined pharmacological treatment. During his hospitalization, the Holy Father’s clinical conditions presented two very critical episodes in which the Holy Father’s life was in danger. The pharmacological therapy, the administration of high-flow oxygen, and the assisted mechanical ventilation recorded a slow but progressive improvement, bringing the Holy Father out of the most critical episodes. The Holy Father was never intubated, and he always remained alert and oriented. The Holy Father will be discharged tomorrow, as we said before, in a stable clinical condition with a prescription to partially continue adjunct therapy and a convalescence rest period for at least two months."
++ENDS ON SOUNDBITE++
STORYLINE:
Pope Francis will be released from the hospital on Sunday, after 38 days battling a life-threatening case of pneumonia in both lungs, his doctors said.
Gemelli medical director Dr. Sergio Alfieri said Saturday that Francis will require at least two months of rest and rehabilitation as he continues recovering back at the Vatican.
Francis was admitted to Gemelli Hospital on Feb. 14 after a bout of bronchitis worsened. He later developed a life-threatening case of pneumonia.
Pope Francis’ doctors provided their first in-person update on the pontiff’s condition in a month, in a sign that he has made good and steady progress in his battle against double pneumonia.
The Saturday evening briefing is the first since Feb. 21, a week after the 88-year-old Francis was brought to Gemelli Hospital. He subsequently experienced several respiratory crises that landed him in critical condition, though he has since stabilized.
In another development, the Vatican announced that Francis would appear on Sunday morning to bless faithful from his 10th floor suite at the hospital. While Francis released an audio message on March 6 and the Vatican distributed a photo of him March 16, Sunday’s blessing will be the first live appearance since Francis was admitted on Feb. 14 for what has become the longest hospitalization of his 12-year papacy.
The Argentine pope, who has chronic lung disease, is prone to respiratory problems in winter and had part of one lung removed as a young man, was admitted after a bout of bronchitis worsened.
Doctors first diagnosed a complex bacterial, viral and fungal respiratory tract infection and soon thereafter, pneumonia in both lungs. Blood tests showed signs of anemia, low blood platelets and the onset of kidney failure, all of which later resolved after two blood transfusions.
The most serious setbacks began on Feb. 28, when Francis experienced an acute coughing fit and inhaled vomit, requiring he use a noninvasive mechanical ventilation mask to help him breathe. He suffered two more respiratory crises in the following days, which required doctors manually aspirate the mucus, at which point he began sleeping with the ventilation mask at night to help his lungs clear the accumulation of fluids.
At no point did he lose consciousness, and doctors reported he was alert and cooperative.
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