Pope Francis, in Critical Condition, Is ‘Resting’ in Hospital, Vatican Says

Pope Francis was resting on Monday at the Rome hospital where he has spent the past 10 days with pneumonia, a complex infection and now kidney problems that have all left him in critical condition, the Vatican said.

The Vatican said in a statement on Monday morning that “the night went well, the Pope slept and is now resting,” but it did not provide additional information about the health of the 88-year old pontiff.

Officials were expected to give an update on his condition on Monday evening, a day after the Vatican said he was also suffering from “initial, mild kidney failure.”

At the moment, the kidney issues are “under control,” the Vatican said. There had been no repeat of the “asthmatic respiratory crisis” that the pope experienced on Saturday, it said.

The pope was “alert and well oriented,” and tests showed that his anemia had improved thanks to blood transfusions, the Vatican said, adding that he was still receiving high flows of supplemental oxygen.

Francis, who as a young man had part of a lung removed, has suffered a series of health conditions in recent years, but this is his longest hospitalization for a lung infection.

Sergio Alfieri, a surgeon who is on the pope’s medical team, said on Friday that the pope had told him that he was aware of his own fragility and that “both doors are open.”

Cardinal Timothy Dolan, in his homily on Sunday at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York, said that Francis was “in very, very fragile health and probably close to death,” as he urged the faithful to pray for the ailing pope.

Many around the world have gathered to pray for Francis, who is the spiritual leader of almost 1.4 billion Roman Catholics. From near the Policlinico Agostino Gemelli hospital in Rome, where the pope is being treated in a dedicated apartment for popes, to South Korea, to his native Argentina, the faithful have held vigils and prayers for the pontiff.