ROME (AP) — Pope Francis was sitting upright and receiving therapy for double pneumonia Wednesday, the Vatican said, as Argentines, Romans and others kept up the steady stream of prayers for his recovery. Francis remained in critical condition but the Holy See machinery ground on, with the announcement of new bishops and a new church fundraising initiative.
The Vatican said that it hoped to have information later in the day about the results of a CT scan taken Tuesday evening to check on the status of the complex lung infection that has kept the 88-year-old pope hospitalized since Feb. 14. Francis has chronic lung disease and was admitted to Rome's Gemelli hospital after a bout of bronchitis worsened.
The Vatican said the pope had a peaceful night and was up, sitting in his armchair on Wednesday receiving therapy. Doctors have said he isn't out of danger, but hasn't had any further respiratory crises since Saturday.
Francis has been working from his hospital room, and the daily grind of the Vatican bureaucracy has been continuing in his absence. On Wednesday the Vatican said Francis had appointed four new bishops and approved the creation of a new fundraising initiative to encourage donations to the Holy See, which has been enduring a financial crisis for years.
Francis likely approved the bishop appointments awhile back and the new norms for the fundraising entity were approved Feb. 11, before he was hospitalized. But the announcements made them official and suggested Francis was still very much in charge and governing.
If he were to look out the hospital window from the 10th floor, he might see that a steady stream of well-wishers are lighting candles and leaving him get-well cards at the statue of St. John Paul II near the Gemelli entrance. It has become something of a makeshift pilgrimage destination, especially for church groups in town for the Vatican’s Holy Year.
On Wednesday, Bishop Gerardo Villalonga from Menorca, Spain led a group of 50 pilgrims to the site, saying they wanted to be as close to him as possible.
“Because when a family has someone who is sick it is very important that they are surrounded, it is necessary that everyone is near to them, and all the people of God are close the pope,” he said.
The dean of the College of Cardinals, meanwhile, was designated to lead the Vatican's prayer vigil in St. Peter's Square on Wednesday night, thrusting a key figure in a future possible conclave into the spotlight. Francis recently extended the term of Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, 91, keeping him in the important job rather than naming someone new.
As is now popularly known thanks to the Oscar-nominated film “Conclave,” the dean is a key point of reference for cardinals. He presides over a papal funeral and organizes the conclave to elect a new pope.
From 2000-2010, Re was prefect of the Vatican’s congregation for bishops, one of the most powerful and influential positions in the Holy See. Francis made him dean in 2020 and confirmed him in the job in January despite the expiration of his five-year term.
On Tuesday night, the faithful from Francis' homeland gathered in the Argentine church of Rome for a special Mass presided over by Cardinal Baldassarre Reina, the pope’s vicar for Rome. Reina was also celebrating the lunchtime Mass on Wednesday at Gemelli to pray for Francis.
The rector of the Argentine church, the Rev. Fernando Laguna, said that he hoped the pope could feel the embrace of the community's prayer.
“I can’t go to Gemelli, because for him to recover he must be isolated,” he said. "I know that I hug him and that he hugs me when I pray. And now I would like to embrace the pope.”
Sister Nilda Trejo, an Argentine nun, said that she knew Francis' health has always been delicate, with problems breathing and speaking loudly, and that's why she always prayed for him.
“We knew that he often found it difficult,” she said. "In fact, you see that at the beginning of Mass, the microphone always has to be turned up because he has a bit of trouble. But he always spoke to the people. To the heart of the people.”
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