Pope is resting on 10th day of hospitalisation after early stages of kidney insufficiency detected: Vatican

People pray for Pope Francis, who is in critical condition battling double pneumonia, inside St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican, on February 23, 2025.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Pope Francis was resting on Monday (February 24, 2025) morning after a quiet night, on the 10th day of his hospitalisation for a complex lung infection that has provoked the early stages of kidney insufficiency, the Vatican said.

The one-line statement didn’t say if Francis, 88, had woken up. “The night passed well, the pope slept and is resting,” it said.

Late Sunday, doctors reported that blood tests showed “early, slight kidney insufficiency” that was nevertheless under control. They said the Pope remained in critical condition but that he hadn’t experienced any further respiratory crises since Saturday.

He was receiving high flows of supplemental oxygen and, on Sunday, was alert, responsive and attended Mass. They said his prognosis was guarded.

Doctors have said the Pope’s condition is touch-and-go, given his age, fragility and pre-existing lung disease. They have warned that the main threat facing the Pope is sepsis, a serious infection of the blood that can occur as a complication of pneumonia.

To date there has been no reference to any onset of sepsis in the medical updates provided by the Vatican, including on Sunday.

Also read | Pope Francis’ doctor says pontiff isn’t out of danger but that his condition isn’t life-threatening

Monday marks the Pope’s 10th day in the hospital, making this equal to the longest hospitalisation of his papacy. He spent 10 days at Rome’s Gemelli hospital in 2021 after he had 33 centimeters (13 inches) of his colon removed.

In New York on Sunday, Cardinal Timothy Dolan acknowledged what church leaders in Rome weren’t saying publicly: that the Catholic faithful were united “at the bedside of a dying father.”

“As our Holy Father Pope Francis is in very, very fragile health, and probably close to death,” Cardinal Dolan said in his homily from the pulpit of St. Patrick’s Cathedral, though he later told reporters he hoped and prayed that the Pope would “bounce back.”

The Pope’s condition has revived speculation about what might happen if he becomes unconscious or otherwise incapacitated, and whether he might resign.