Pope Francis has developed pneumonia in both his lungs and his condition remains “complicated”, says the Vatican.
The 88-year-old has been suffering from a respiratory infection for more than a week and was admitted to Rome Hospital on Friday.
“The monitoring of the chest scanning that the Holy Father underwent this afternoon … demonstrates the appearance of bilateral pneumonia, which requires additional drug therapy,” the Vatican said.
It states that laboratory tests, the X -ray of the breast and the clinical condition of the pope “continue to present a complex picture”.
However, the Vatican said that the pontiff remains in “good spirits” and spent the day “reading, resting and praying.”
Pope Francis also expressed his gratitude to the good faith and asked them to “ask for him”.
Prior to taking it last week, the Pope had symptoms of bronchitis for several days and had delegated employees to read prepared speeches at events.
He had to run several events over the weekend for the Catholic Holy Year in 2025, which continued until next January, but all public events in the Pope's calendar were canceled until Sunday.
On Monday, the Vatican said that doctors had changed the Pope's drug therapy for the second time during his hospital stay to deal with what was “polymicrobial infection of the respiratory tract” at the time.
The Pope is especially predisposed to pulmonary infections due to the development of pleurisy as an adult and has been removed part of one of his lungs at 21 years old.
For his 12 years as the leader of the Roman Catholic Church, the Argentine was hospitalized several times, including in March 2023, when he spent three nights in a bronchitis hospital.