Pope Francis showed slight improvement in laboratory tests and resumed some work activities on Monday, the Vatican has said in a surprise statement.
The Vatican said in its evening bulleting that he hadn’t had any more respiratory crises, while adding a slight kidney insufficiency detected on Sunday was of no concern. As reported by the Mirror, he is continuing to receive supplemental oxygen and doctors say his prognosis remains guarded. He received the Eucharist in the morning, however, and resumed working in the afternoon.
The statement said he was able to call a parish in Gaza City with which he has been in contact since the war began. The statement said: “In the evening he called the parish priest of the Gaza parish to express his fatherly closeness.” Francis has double pneumonia and the early stages of kidney insufficiency, but was awake and in good spirits Monday, is not in pain and is not receiving artificial nutrition.
Doctors reported late on Sunday that Francis remained in critical condition but that he hadn’t experienced any further respiratory crises following one the day prior. Blood tests showed “early, slight kidney insufficiency” that doctors believe is nevertheless under control.
The announcement of the slight improvement comes before Vatican-led nighttime prayers for his health are due to start in St Peter’s Square. Romans and other members of the public are allowed to join while Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s number two, will lead the first prayer later this evening.
Bishop Claudio GiulioDori previously presided over an emotional, standing-room-only Mass in the chapel of the Gemelli hospital named for John Paul. Some of the estimated 200 people who attended were in white doctor’s coats or green surgical scrubs. Some knelt in prayer.
Filomena Ferraro, who was visiting a relative at the hospital on Monday, said joining the Pope in prayer was all she could do at the time. She said: “We are very sorry. Pope Francis is a good pope, let’s hope that he makes it. Let us hope. We are joining him with our prayers but what else can we do?”
While the news is encouraging for the faith at large, the international Catholic community fears he may be close to death. In New York on Sunday, Cardinal Timothy Dolan suggested people were united “at the bedside of a dying father.” He said from the pulpit of St Patrick’s Cathedral in New York: “As our Holy Father Pope Francis is in very, very fragile health, and probably close to death.”