by Pope Francis is in a stable state, the Vatican said in a statement on Wednesday, adding that blood tests showed “a slight improvement” because he was admitted to the hospital last week with serious respiratory issues.
The improvement, especially in his inflammatory markers, suggests that the treatment works. Francis remains in Policlinico Agostino Gemelli, one of the largest hospitals in Italy, for the treatment of pneumonia.
But he returned to a few tasks on Wednesday, according to the Vatican statement. He read newspapers after breakfast “and was then about his work with his closest employees.”
He received communion for lunch and met in the afternoon private with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
According to a statement from the Prime Minster office, Meloni wished him “a quick recovery, on behalf of the government and the entire nation.”
“I am very happy that I found him alert and responsive,” said Meloni. “We made jokes as always. He has not lost his proverbial sense of humor. ‘
On Monday, the Vatican announced that Francis was sick with a polymicrobial infection of the airway channel, three days after he was admitted to the Gemelli hospital for bronchitis. Provisional tests showed that he had an infection of the airways and a slight fever that the Vatican described as a ‘complex clinical image’.
The Vatican said on Tuesday that he had developed pneumonia in both lungs that the polymicrobial infection ‘originated in the context of bronchiectasis and asthmatic bronchitis, and the use of corticosteroid and antibiotics’, which makes ‘the therapeutic treatment more complex’ .
Polymicrobial diseases are caused by combinations of viruses, bacteria, fungi and parasites, according to the National Library of Medicine.
In recent years, Francis has argued with repeated health problems, including flu and airway infections. In 2021 he underwent an operation to tackle diverticulitis, or a painful inflammation in the intestine, and again in 2023 to restore a hernia.
Last month he wore a pendulum on his arm after he fell into his home, weeks after bruising his face in a fall.
Francis, the leader of the world’s nearly 1.4 billion Catholics since 2013, often uses a wheelchair due to back and knee pain.
