Pope awake, resting on 10th day of hospitalisation after early stages of kidney problem detected

Pope Francis, 88, is fighting a complex lung infection and pneumonia.

Pope Francis woke up and was continuing his therapies on Monday 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 night passed well, the pope slept and is resting,” it said. A medical bulletin was expected later Monday.

He is continuing to feed himself and is not receiving artificial or liquid nutrition, the Vatican said.

Late Sunday, doctors reported that blood tests showed “early, slight kidney insufficiency” that was nevertheless under control. They said Francis, 88, 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 Francis' condition is touch-and-go, given his age, fragility and pre-existing lung disease. They have warned that the main threat facing Francis 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.

This hospitalisation now looks set to be Francis' longest as pope. 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,” Dolan said in his homily from the pulpit of St. Patrick's Cathedral, though he later told reporters he hoped and prayed that Francis would “bounce back”.

Francis' condition has revived speculation about what might happen if he becomes unconscious or otherwise incapacitated, and whether he might resign.