Pope Francis back on ventilation after suffering “acute respiratory failure”, Vatican says

Pope Francis remains “alert, oriented, and cooperated with medical personnel” after suffering two new acute respiratory crises on Monday, the Vatican said in its latest update.

The Catholic pontiff was put back on noninvasive mechanical ventilation support in what was seen as another setback to his struggle against pneumonia, according to the Vatican statement.

Doctors at the Agostino Gemelli Polyclinic in Rome, where the 88-year-old Francis is being treated, said they removed “copious” secretions of mucus from his lungs by inserting a camera-tipped tube into his airways and using a sucker at the tip to remove the fluid.

According to medical experts, doctors often use noninvasive ventilation to stave off intubation or the use of invasive mechanical ventilation.

Given that his laboratory tests didn’t reveal any new bacteria, the Vatican said the mucus was his body’s response to the initial pneumonia illness rather than a new one.

Although the doctors used the past ciltse to indicate that the crises were over, they did not specify if the Pope was still stable.

Outlook on Pope’s health, still cautious

The crisis was a new setback in the Pope’s fight to recover from a complicated respiratory infection, which has lasted more than two weeks. Pope Francis, who uses a wheelchair, has chronic lung disease and had part of one lung removed as a young man.

To enhance his lung function, the pope has been receiving respiratory physiotherapy. The buildup of secretions in his lungs, however, indicated that he lacked the muscular strength to cough up enough fluid, according to doctors treating him.

No images or videos of him have been made public by the Vatican since he was admitted to the hospital on 14 February due to the lung ailment.

On Monday, one of Francis’ closest friends at the Vatican urged him to let his voice be heard, saying the world needs to hear it.

Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia was responding to the Vatican’s handling of the Pope’s health, allowing the Pope to recover in peace and out of the public eye.

Speaking after a press conference to launch the annual assembly of his Pontifical Academy for Life, the Vatican’s bioethics academy, which has as this year’s theme “The End of the World, Paglia said, “We need men like him who are truly universal and not only one-sided.”

Francis’ hospitalisation has been his longest absence to date in his 12-year papacy.