Pope Francis’ condition continues to improve

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis spent the night without a breathing mask, the Vatican press office said March 18, indicating that his need for supplemental oxygen continues to diminish.

The pope received high-flow oxygen through a nasal tube overnight, it said, a change from the noninvasive mechanical ventilation he had been using since he had a breathing crisis Feb. 28. He has been hospitalized since Feb. 14.

The decision to forgo overnight mechanical ventilation aligns with a medical plan to “progressively reduce” the 88-year-old pope’s supplemental oxygen intake, the press office said, though it does not mean he will no longer use it at night.

Pope Francis has been alternating between high-flow and normal-flow oxygen during the day, and doctors had already been reducing the number of hours he uses mechanical ventilation at night. During brief periods, the pope could go without supplemental oxygen entirely, the press office had said the previous day.

For the first time since Pope Francis was hospitalized in mid-February, the Vatican press office released a photograph of him March 16; the image shows him concelebrating Mass that morning in the chapel of his suite of rooms at Rome’s Gemelli hospital.

The Mass also was the first the Vatican described as concelebrated by the pope in the hospital. He has been receiving the Eucharist daily and on the previous Sundays was described as having “participated” in the liturgy.

The Vatican press office released a 27-second audio message from Pope Francis March 6 thanking people for their prayers. The pope had obvious difficulty breathing and speaking.

On March 18, the pope dedicated himself to prayer, work activities and therapy prescribed by his doctors, the press office said. He continues to follow a prescribed diet that “also consists of solid food,” it added.

Cardinal Angelo De Donatis, head of the Apostolic Penitentiary, a Church court, led the recitation of the Rosary in St. Peter’s Square for the pope’s health.

While the Vatican has given no indication of when the pope might be released from the hospital, Britain’s King Charles III and Queen Camilla confirmed that they plan to meet with Pope Francis in early April.

The British Embassy to the Holy See released Buckingham Palace’s itinerary for the royals’ state visit March 18, which includes an audience with Pope Francis April 8.

More than a hundred children gathered March 16 in the square in front of Rome’s Gemelli hospital to pray the Angelus; many were hoping the pope would come to his window to wave, while a few of the little ones were more concerned about keeping ahold of their balloons.

Although the pope did not come to the window, he thanked the children in the message the Vatican press office published at noon.

“I know that many children are praying for me; some of them came here today to Gemelli as a sign of closeness,” he wrote. “Thank you, dearest children! The pope loves you and is always waiting to meet you.”

In the square under the pope’s window, Elena, 8, came with a group from Sacred Heart School in Rome’s Monte Mario neighborhood “because the pope is in the hospital. We wanted to show our affection to make him feel better.”

Giulio, 10, knows Pope Francis personally. “I met him when I was little and again when he baptized my little sister” three years ago. Giulio’s dad works at the Vatican and was one of the employees whose newborns were baptized by the pope in the Sistine Chapel in 2022.

Pope Francis also used the message to affirm his decision, announced the previous day, to launch a three-year program to ensure implementation of the recommendations of the Synod of Bishops on synodality to promote a culture of listening to one another, valuing the gifts of each member of the Church and encouraging all Catholics to take responsibility for the Church’s mission.

Commenting on the day’s Gospel reading, which recounted the Transfiguration, Pope Francis said that when Jesus took His disciples up the mountain and was transfigured, He showed them “what is hidden behind the gestures He performs in their midst: the light of His infinite love.”

Saying that he was writing while “facing a period of trial,” the pope said that he joins “with so many brothers and sisters who are sick: fragile, at this time, like me.”

“Our bodies are weak,” he wrote, “but even like this, nothing can prevent us from loving, praying, giving ourselves, being for each other, in faith, shining signs of hope.”

And, the pope said, the light of God’s love shines in the hospital through the care of doctors, nurses, orderlies and the entire staff. “That is why I would like to invite you, today, to join me in praising the Lord, who never abandons us and who, in times of sorrow, places people beside us who reflect a ray of His love.”