Pope Francis, who is in critical condition with a complex lung infection, offered his thanks for the “many messages of affection” he has received since he was hospitalized earlier this month.
“I have been particularly struck by the letters and drawings from children,” the pope’s official account on X shared on Sunday. “Thank you for your closeness, and for the consoling prayers I have received from all over the world!”
In a late update on Sunday, the Vatican said Francis remains in critical condition and blood tests show early kidney failure but he remains alert and “well-oriented.”
The Vatican said the 88-year-old pontiff, who participated in Mass, has not had any more respiratory crises since Saturday night but was still receiving high flows of supplemental oxygen.
Some blood tests showed “initial, mild, kidney failure,” but doctors said it was under control. The decreased platelet count, necessary for clotting, that was first detected Saturday was stable.
“The complexity of the clinical picture, and the necessary wait for drug therapies to provide some feedback, dictate that the prognosis remains reserved,” the doctors concluded.
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Francis has been hospitalized for a week while being treated for pneumonia and a complex lung infection. He was admitted to Rome’s Gemelli hospital on Feb. 14 after a weeklong bout of bronchitis worsened.
Prayers for him poured in from around the world, from his native Argentina to the seat of Sunni Islam in Cairo to schoolchildren in Rome.
In New York, Cardinal Timothy Dolan admitted what church leaders in Rome weren’t saying publicly: that the Catholic faithful were united “at the bedside of a dying father.”
“As our Holy Father Pope Francis is in very, very fragile health, and probably close to death,” Dolan said at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, without saying if he had independent information about the pope’s condition.
“We feel Pope Francis close to us”
Francis was supposed to have celebrated Mass on Sunday morning in St. Peter’s Basilica and ordained hundreds of deacons as part of the Vatican’s yearlong Holy Year commemoration.
The organizer of the Holy Year, Archbishop Rino Fisichella, celebrated the Mass in his place and offered a special prayer for Francis from the altar before delivering the homily the pope had prepared.
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“Even though he is in a hospital bed, we feel Pope Francis close to us, we feel him present among us,” Fisichella told the hundreds of white-robed deacons. “And this compels us to make even stronger and more intense our prayer that the Lord will assist him in his time of trial and illness.
The Deacons Jubilee, a day of the Holy Year dedicated to deacons, will attract over 6,000 pilgrims from about 100 countries to Rome.
Vatican hierarchy tamps down resignation speculation
Meanwhile, the Vatican hierarchy went on the defensive to tamp down rumors and speculation that Francis might decide to resign. There is no provision in canon law for what to do if a pope becomes incapacitated. Francis has said that he has written a letter of resignation that would be invoked if he were medically incapable of making such a decision.
In an interview with CBS News in May 2024, Francis said the idea of stepping down has never occurred to him.
“Maybe if the day comes when my health can go no further,” Francis said. “Perhaps because the only infirmity I have is in my knee, and that is getting much better. But it never occurred to me.”
Francis, took on the papacy in 2013 at the age of 76, after his predecessor, Benedict XVI, became the first pope to retire in about 600 years, citing his declining health before stepping down. He died in 2022 at age 95.
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The Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, gave a rare interview to Corriere della Sera to respond to speculation and rumors about a possible resignation. It came after the Vatican issued an unusual and official denial of an Italian media report that said Parolin and the pope’s chief canonist had visited Francis in the hospital in secret. Given the canonical requirements to make a resignation legitimate, the implications of such a meeting were significant, but the Vatican flat-out denied that any such meeting occurred.
Parolin said such speculation seemed “useless” when what really mattered was the health of Francis, his recovery and return to the Vatican.
“On the other hand, I think it is quite normal that in these situations uncontrolled rumors can spread or some misplaced comment is uttered. It is certainly not the first time it has happened,” Parolin was quoted as saying. “However, I don’t think there is any particular movement, and so far I haven’t heard anything like that.”