Prayers For Pope Francis Continue Outside Rome Hospital Where He Is Being Treated For Pneumonia- wna24

Prayers for Pope Francis continued Saturday outside the hospital in Rome where he is being treated, as devotees gathered after an alarming setback in his two-week recovery from double pneumonia.

The head of the Catholic Church was resting on Saturday, following a coughing fit in which he inhaled vomit that needed to then be extracted, with doctors placing him on non-invasive mechanical ventilation.

Doctors said it would take a day or two to evaluate how and if the episode impacted Francis’ overall clinical condition.

His prognosis remained guarded, meaning he wasn’t out of danger.

In its brief morning update Saturday, the Vatican said: “The night has passed quietly, the pope is resting.”

In the late Friday update, the Vatican said the 88-year-old suffered an “isolated crisis of bronchial spasm,” a coughing fit in which Francis inhaled vomit, that resulted in a “sudden worsening of the respiratory picture.”

The pope remained conscious and alert at all times and cooperated with the maneuvers to help him recover.

He responded well, with a good level of oxygen exchange and was continuing to wear a mask to receive supplemental oxygen, the Vatican said.

The episode, which occurred in the early afternoon, marked a setback in what had been two successive days of increasingly upbeat reports from doctors treating Francis at Rome’s Gemelli hospital since Feb. 14.

The pope, who had part of one lung removed as a young man, has lung disease and was admitted after a bout of bronchitis worsened and turned into pneumonia in both lungs.