“The Pope slept well, had a peaceful night, had breakfast, and devoted himself to reading the daily newspapers,” said Matteo Bruni, director of the Holy See Press Office, on the morning of February 17, 2025. Then in the early afternoon, a Vatican health bulletin explained that the Pope is suffering from a “polymicrobial infection of the respiratory tract” that requires “appropriate hospitalization.”
The medical teams, taking into account this “complex clinical picture,” announced that they have once again modified the treatment of the 88-year-old pontiff, who has been hospitalized since Friday.
A Vatican source told I.MEDIA that the announcement did not mean that the Pope's medical condition had deteriorated, but simply that more was now known about the Pontiff's illness after obtaining the results of certain tests that took several days to show results. Treatment will now be adapted to this information.
Since his arrival at Gemelli, the Pope has had his treatment regimen change at least twice: Already on Saturday, the health bulletin announced that the treatment received by the Pope had been "slightly modified" on the basis of "microbiological results."
For the time being, there is no word on the expected length of the Pope's hospitalization. The general audience on Wednesday morning has been canceled.
Still ministering
Already on Sunday, the doctors had prescribed “absolute rest” for the head of the Catholic Church. He did not lead the Angelus prayer, as is the Sunday midday custom.
He has apparently not received any visitors in hospital but may have made some telephone calls. The LaPresse agency reported on Sunday that the Pope had contacted the Catholic parish in the Gaza Strip. Since the Israeli intervention, the Pope has made a habit of telephoning the parish priest of the Holy Family parish almost every day.
Since 2020, the Pope has regularly suffered from respiratory problems, especially during the winter period. At the age of 21, he had a portion of his right lung removed after a serious illness.
Since 2013, Pope Francis has been hospitalized four times, including the current hospitalization: in July 2021, for ten days, for a major colon operation; in March 2023, for three days, for infectious bronchitis; and in June 2023, for ten days, for an intestinal hernia with risk of obstruction.
[Article updated to include more information after original publication]
