Pope Francis dined on pizza and is expected to leave hospital Saturday: Vatican
Jeremiah Poff
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Pope Francis’s health has improved and he is expected to be discharged on Saturday following a short hospitalization due to a respiratory infection, the Vatican announced Friday.
The pope was taken by ambulance to Gemelli Hospital in Rome on Wednesday after saying he had difficulty breathing. The Vatican had initially said that the pope was visiting the hospital for “previously scheduled checkups.” Tests revealed that the pope was suffering from a lung infection.
POPE FRANCIS HOSPITALIZED WITH RESPIRATORY INFECTION
In a statement Friday morning, Holy See Press Office Director Matteo Bruni said that the pope ate pizza for dinner on Thursday and that his health had steadily improved to the point where he is expected to return to the Vatican on Saturday.
“Yesterday’s day passed well with a normal clinical course,” Bruni said, according to a report from Vatican News. “In the evening, Pope Francis had dinner, eating pizza, together with those who are assisting him during these days of his hospital stay: with the Holy Father were the doctors, nurses, assistants, and staff of the Gendarmerie.
“His Holiness is expected to return to the Santa Marta home tomorrow, upon the outcome of the results of the last examinations this morning.”
In a follow-up statement, Bruni said that the 86-year-old pope would be present for Palm Sunday Mass in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday. The pope’s spokesman revealed Thursday that Francis had been suffering from bronchitis that required antibiotics.
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“[The antibiotics] have resulted in a marked improvement in his state of health,” Bruni said.
The pontiff’s health has visibly deteriorated in recent years as he is now the oldest reigning pope since Pope Leo XIII, who died in 1903 at the age of 93. In 2021, Pope Francis underwent surgery to remove a portion of his colon to treat inflammation of his intestine, a condition known as diverticulitis. He has also increasingly been using a wheelchair or a cane due to ligament damage in his knee.