ROME (LifeSiteNews) — Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni visited Pope Francis in the hospital Wednesday afternoon after the Pope was diagnosed with pneumonia Tuesday night.
“I am very happy to have found him alert and responsive,” Meloni said. “We joked as always. He has not lost his proverbial sense of humor.”
According to a press statement, Meloni wished the Pope a speedy recovery on behalf of the Italian nation and its government. She is reportedly Francis’ first visitor apart from his inner circle at the Vatican.
On Wednesday morning, a very brief update from Holy See Press Office Director Matteo Bruni had announced that Francis rested well and ate breakfast.
Amid the Pope’s declining health, which led to his February 14 hospitalization, the Vatican announced late Tuesday night that he had now been diagnosed with double pneumonia.
The statement read in part:
The polymicrobial infection, which arose in a context of bronchiectasis and asthmatic bronchitis, and which required the use of cortisone and antibiotic therapy, makes the therapeutic treatment more complex.
The chest CAT scan that the Holy Father underwent this afternoon, prescribed by the Vatican health team and the medical team of the ‘A. Gemelli’ Polyclinic Foundation, showed the onset of bilateral pneumonia that required further drug therapy.
Numerous calls for prayers for Pope Francis have been made by bishops’ conferences across the world, and were particularly swift to emerge from the Diocese of Rome on the afternoon of his admission to hospital. U.S. Vice President JD Vance has also called on people to pray for the Pontiff.
Francis had been admitted to hospital Friday with a fever and with bronchitis, though the Holy See Press Office told journalists Saturday evening that the fever had apparently subsided, and medical personnel reportedly stated that he was showing “improvement in some values.”
On Sunday evening, his condition was declared “stationary,” but then on Monday the press office announced it had worsened and that “all the investigations carried out to date are indicative of a complex clinical picture that will require appropriate hospital stay.”
His audiences have been canceled up until the end of Sunday, February 23.
Some sources have reported that the Pope is improving, notwithstanding his diagnosis of pneumonia.
Ansa news agency also stated that the Pope gets out of bed during the day and sits in an armchair, as opposed to being bed-bound. The outlet cited Vatican sources who stated that Francis’ heart is doing well and that, despite the pneumonia affecting his one-and-a-half lungs, he is not requiring supplemental oxygen. However, in order to recover, visitations are completely canceled apart from those who are his closest collaborators.
Already missing a large part of one lung as a result of illness in his early 20s, Francis has always been particularly susceptible to winter colds affecting his breathing capability.
Now diagnosed with double pneumonia – a condition the doctors were actively seeking to avoid – this “complex” medical scenario comes as the latest of health struggles the 88-year-old Pontiff has had in recent years.
Meanwhile, heightened media presence in Rome and around the Vatican points to the aspect that remains quietly spoken about, though not officially mentioned – namely, a potential papal conclave should the Pope pass away from his ailments.
Published with files from Michael Haynes.