Pope Francis Health Update: “complex” Pneumonia Feb 23, 2025

Pope Francis, at 88-years old, is currently in critical condition

https://time.com/7260745/pope-francis-critical-condition-health-update-latest-vatican/

Pope Francis Time Article

Please click the links above to read the original article (which was a surprisingly detailed article from Time of all sources).

Pope Francis is 88 years old and has had health issues off and on for the last few years. Although I have not found information on the exact infectious organisms at hand, I did find this from the Time article:

“Doctors first diagnosed the complex viral, bacterial and fungal respiratory tract infection and then the onset of pneumonia in both lungs. They prescribed “absolute rest” and a combination of cortisone and antibiotics, along with supplemental oxygen when he needs it.”

In short…this is bad for Pope Francis. Any single one of those types of pneumonia is difficult to recover from, especially in an 88 year old. Combining 3 different etiologies makes it that much more difficult. In addition, he is said to be thrombocytopenic, meaning he has low blood platelets, and this will be a complicating factor for his clinical course.

I have seen older folks come through these severe diseases, but prognostically he is in a very dangerous spot. I will not be surprised if we get an announcement in the next few days. I will keep you updated.

This is a testament to how pervasive respiratory disease is right now. The Pope is a highly protected individual and still managed to come down with a deadly respiratory infection. Take precautions for yourselves and your loved ones until the numbers decrease which is hopefully later this spring.

—DLW