Pope alert, joking despite double pneumonia, Italy PM says

AFP | Vatican City

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Pope Francis is alert and still making jokes despite having double pneumonia, Italy’s prime minister said yesterday after visiting the 88-year-old pontiff in hospital.

Francis was admitted to Rome’s Gemelli hospital with bronchitis last Friday, but the Holy See revealed on Tuesday that he had developed pneumonia in both of his lungs.

The development caused widespread alarm over the pope’s health, after a series of issues in recent years, from colon and hernia surgery to problems walking.

“I was very happy to find him alert and responsive. We joked as always. He hasn’t lost his proverbial sense of humour,” Giorgia Meloni said in a statement after her visit.

Amid widespread speculation online, including reports of his death, the Vatican issued an early bulletin yesterday saying he had spent a “peaceful night” in the hospital’s papal suite and had breakfast.

“The pope is breathing on his own. His heart is holding up very well,” a source in the Vatican added.

Francis has been speaking to friends by telephone, has been out of bed and sitting in a chair, and working on and off, the source said.

The Argentine pope, who has been head of the Catholic Church since 2013, keeps a busy schedule despite his age and ailments, and this year is busy with celebrations of the holy Jubilee year.

But he had struggled to read his homilies in the days before his hospital admission. After an initial diagnosis of bronchitis, the Holy See revealed on Tuesday evening that “the laboratory tests, chest X-ray, and the Holy Father’s clinical condition continue to present a complex picture”.