Pope spends a peaceful night after bronchial crisis causes setback in recovery

Pope Francis spent a peaceful night and is resting and had suffered no other crises, the Vatican said in a short update on Saturday morning, after he suffered a bronchial crisis that caused a sudden worsening of his health.

He is alert and aware, he had coffee and read newspapers, but his condition remains complex, the Vatican said.

On Friday afternoon, the Vatican said the 88-year-old pontiff had “an isolated crisis of bronchospasm” that resulted in “an episode of vomiting with inhalation,” raising concerns of a potentially major setback of the pope’s condition after more than two weeks in the hospital.

A bronchospasm is caused by the tightening of the muscles that line the airways that connect the lungs to the windpipe, limiting oxygen intake, according to the Cleveland Clinic.

The pope was bronchoaspirated and swiftly began noninvasive mechanical ventilation on Friday, to which he had a good response, the Vatican said, adding he remained “alert and oriented at all times.”

But Friday’s episode, in which the contents from his stomach may have entered his lungs, is likely to slow down Francis’ recovery. He will be closely monitored for any further setbacks over the next few days.

Francis has been battling double pneumonia, meaning pneumonia in both lungs, for the past two weeks after he was originally admitted to Rome’s Gemelli hospital for bronchitis on Feb. 14.

Fears for the pontiff’s health have grown after he suffered from influenza and related health issues repeatedly over the past two years. He also underwent surgery in 2021 to address a painful condition called diverticulitis and again in 2023 to repair a hernia.

In January, he released an autobiography titled “Hope,” where he downplayed his health issues and said he had no plans to resign as leader of the global Catholic Church.

“I am well,” Francis had written. “The reality is, quite simply, that I am old.”

Prayers for Francis’ health continued to pour in late on Friday after a nightly prayer led by Argentine Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, the pope’s closest friend in the Vatican, was held in St. Peter’s Square.

“Our prayer is not only for him, but also for all those who in this particular dramatic and suffering moment of the world bear the hard burden of war, of sickness, of poverty,” said Fernández.

The Vatican plans to hold the Eucharist at the St. John Paul II Chapel in Gemelli hospital on Saturday afternoon, followed by mass. It will issue another update on the pope’s health later in the evening before holding nightly prayers at St. Peter’s Square.