Pope Francis is Slowly Improving

Pope Francis is slowly getting better.

I hesitate to write the words, even though they reflect the latest report on the pope’s health, because people his age who are in the throes of medical problems can go sour very quickly. He has demonstrated that several times in this current illness. But for now at least the Holy Father appears to be slowly improving.

His breathing has gotten better. He’s “showing an improved blood gas exchange,” which I interpret to mean he is actually absorbing the oxygen through his lungs and into his blood and exhaling the wastes from his blood. He has not been running a fever, which I think means that the pneumonia infection is either gone or almost gone. His blood reports are “stable.”

So far as I can tell, with my non-medical understanding of these things, all this, taken together, means that the Pope is slowly, inch by inch, becoming less critically ill. The guardedness in the medical statements also make me think that they, like me, are aware that he is a very fragile elderly man who could have another crisis or even die without warning.

I am going to continue to pray for Pope Francis. I hope that you will, as well.

There are so many crazy mean MAGA Catholics out there who hate him because he speaks out for the poor and tries to bring people they regard as too sinful for Christ’s mercy under the umbrella of forgiveness that is the Church. They’re constantly coming up with some claim that the pope is a “heretic” or that he isn’t really Catholic.

Frankly, their behavior is so ugly and malicious that I don’t why anyone who believed these people actually spoke for the Church would want to be Catholic at all.

I, for one, am praying fur our Holy Father. I hope that you will, as well.

From Vatican News:

The Holy Father’s clinical condition over the last few days has remained stable and, consequently, shows a good response to the therapies.

There is therefore a gradual, mild improvement.

The Holy Father has been without a fever at all times. Breathing gas exchange has improved; results from blood chemistry and blood count examinations are stable.

In order to monitor these initial improvements also in the coming days, the doctors prudently maintain that the prognosis is still guarded.

This morning, after receiving the Eucharist, the Holy Father prayed in the chapel of the private apartment, while in the afternoon he alternated between rest and work activities.

The Holy See Press Office also added, that:

As planned, the Pope, after receiving high-flow oxygenation with nasal cannulas during the day, will switch to non-invasive mechanical ventilation during the night.

The Pope will follow the spiritual exercises, which begin tomorrow, in spiritual communion with the Roman Curia. The text of the Pope’s Angelus will be distributed as done so already on recent Sundays.