Pope Francis diagnosed with double pneumonia

The Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell wrote to Cardinal Vincent Nichols to assure Catholics ‘of my prayers and those of many faithful Anglicans for the health of Pope Francis’.

Pope Francis has double pneumonia, the Vatican reported on Tuesday evening.

“Laboratory tests, chest X-rays, and the clinical condition of the Holy Father continue to present a complex picture,” said a statement from the Holy See Press Office.

It said a CT scan of his chest in the afternoon “revealed the onset of bilateral pneumonia, requiring additional drug therapy”.

The Pope was admitted to Rome’s Gemelli Hospital after his morning audiences on Friday, reportedly suffering from bronchitis.  On Monday morning the Vatican said tests and treatment over the weekend had found “a complex clinical picture”, showing “a polymicrobial infection of the respiratory tract, which has led to a further change in therapy”.

A statement that evening said he was “stable” and not suffering a fever, and on Tuesday morning a spokesman said the night had “passed peacefully” while promising more information later about his medical condition. The Vatican announced the cancellation of the Pope’s Jubilee audience on Saturday and said he would not celebrate Mass in St Peter’s for the Jubilee of deacons on Sunday.

“The polymicrobial infection, which arose on a background of bronchiectasis and asthmatic bronchitis, and which required the use of cortisone antibiotic therapy, makes therapeutic treatment more complex,” the evening statement said, confirming the Pope had pneumonia in both lungs.

Pope Francis had part of one lung removed in his early twenties after suffering a respiratory infection, which left him susceptible to bronchitis. He spent three days in the Gemelli Hospital in March 2023 with what he later confirmed was “an acute and strong pneumonia”.

The Vatican’s Tuesday evening statement continued: “Nevertheless, Pope Francis is in good spirits.” It said he received the Eucharist during the day and “alternated rest with prayer and reading”.

“He gives thanks for the closeness he feels at this time and asks, with a grateful heart, that we continue to pray for him.”

The Archbishop of Westminster Cardinal Vincent Nichols said: “In these times, when the burden of his office weighs ever more heavily, the Holy Father is strengthened by the prayerful support of so many.”

He was responding to a message from the Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell on Monday assuring Catholics “of my prayers and those of many faithful Anglicans for the health of Pope Francis during this period of hospitalisation”.

Archbishop Cottrell, the senior prelate in the Church of England in the absence of the Archbishop of Canterbury, said its members were “praying for [the Pope’s] good and swift recovery, for his comfort and peace, and also for all those who tend to him and minister to him”.

Cardinal Nichols thanked the archbishop “for your kindness and concern” and relayed his message to the apostolic nuncio to deliver to the Holy See. “Your words, filled with charity and fraternal care, are a testament to the deep bonds that unite us in Christ,” he said.

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