Pope Francis was said to be in a good mood on Tuesday, a day after the Vatican said he was safe and could soon be released from the hospital after nearly a month of treatment for pneumonia.
Since February 14, the 88-year-old leader of the Catholic Church in the world has been in the Gemelli hospital in Rome due to pneumonia in both lungs.
He has experienced multiple respiratory crises that have caused genuine concern for his life.
His life is no longer in immediate danger, according to the Holy See, which announced on Monday that his prognosis was no longer “reserved” or uncertain following a week of consistent improvements.
It further stated that the pope’s condition is still complicated and that he will need hospital treatment for “several more days” before he is allowed to return to the Vatican.
Although Francis still had pneumonia, a Vatican source later on Monday stated that there was “no imminent danger” to his life.
However, the same Vatican official rejected rumours on Tuesday that Francis’s discharge was not imminent and that plans were on to have him return to the Santa Marta home.
The pope had been using a cannula, a plastic tube that fits into the nostrils and supplies high-flow oxygen, instead of the oxygen mask he wears every night, until at least Monday.
Francis missed the beginning of Lent last week, but there are hopes that he will be able to take part in Easter celebrations, which take place on April 20 and are the holiest time of the Christian calendar.
– Prayers and meditation –
Simonetta Maronge, an employee of the Santa Marta, urged the pope to come home soon.
“May he return to Santa Marta soon. We love him deeply, and Santa Marta is empty without him,” she told AFP outside the Gemelli hospital.
According to a Vatican insider, the pope was in “good” spirits on Tuesday.
He had prayed in the private chapel adjacent to the papal suite on the tenth floor of the hospital that morning, according to the press office, and he had participated virtually in spiritual exercises, including meditation and prayers, in the Vatican.
Updates on the pope’s health have been sent by the Vatican twice a day, but they have decreased since the pontiff’s condition improved and no official bulletin was anticipated on Tuesday night.
