The medical team that followed Pope Francis during his 37-day long stay at Rome’s Policlinico Gemelli due to bilateral pneumonia, recounted details of the crucial moment regarding the decision of whether to discontinue the treatment that saved the Pontiff from a fatal respiratory crisis. Sergio Alfieri, who led the medical team, recounted that the decision had been made by Massimiliano Strappetti, Francis’ nurse. “Try everything, we will not give up,” Alfieri recalls Strappetti telling the team. ”And no one gave up.”
The 88-year-old pontiff was discharged on Sunday, March 23, and after a greeting to the faithful from the hospital balcony, he returned to the Vatican where he was welcomed by an emotional crowd. Francis is currently continuing his convalescence at his residence in Santa Marta, where he is receiving round-the-clock medical care and oxygen therapy to manage the emergency respiratory crisis to which he is still subject and may continue to endanger his life.
As Corriere della Sera reported, Sergio Alfieri recounted, “the Pontiff had a series of respiratory crises during his time in the hospital. The most serious had occurred on February 28. On that occasion we had to choose whether to stop intervening and let him go or to force him and try all possible drugs and therapies, running the very high risk of damaging other organs. And in the end, we took that path.” Alfieri emphasizes how all decisions on medical interventions were made respecting the pontiff’s wishes.
“From the first day he asked us to tell him the truth and he wanted us to tell the truth about his condition … nothing was ever changed or omitted,” Alfieri explained. But the pontiff’s condition still remains very delicate. As the doctors who have been following him explained, the disease has impaired his voice. For this reason, the Pope disclosed last Sunday’s Angelus only in written form through social media. Despite his continued weakness, Bergoglio must undergo respiratory physiotherapy exercises to achieve recovery of his voice, as the bilateral pneumonia he suffered from has damaged his lungs and affected his respiratory muscles.
Meanwhile, Sergio Alfieri and Luigi Carbone, deputy director of the Holy See’s health directorate, expressed caution about the Pope’s future engagements, stating that many of them will be canceled: “For participation in the Easter rites, improvements will have to be evaluated. At the end of May the trip to Turkey is scheduled, and we hope it can be done, but it is difficult to make predictions, and this applies to all other appointments. Group meetings are not recommended during convalescence because they require great effort and are risky.”
