ROME, Italy — Pope Francis was in stable condition on Saturday evening and receiving oxygen therapy, as the 88-year-old moves into a third week of battling pneumonia. The Vatican says his prognosis is guarded.
The Holy See Press Office issued a statement saying the pope was receiving non-invasive ventilation, alternating with periods of supplemental high-flow oxygen. He was eating on his own and receiving respiratory physiotherapy, it said.
Francis' condition appeared to be a slight upgrade from Friday, when he experienced what the Vatican described an "isolated bronchospasm crisis" — a sudden tightening of the windpipe that can make breathing difficult — followed by "an episode of vomiting with inhalation and a sudden worsening of the respiratory condition."
In the latest report, the press office said the pontiff is "alert and oriented" and "in good humor."
Francis received the Eucharist on Saturday afternoon and prayed in the chapel near his hospital room for around 20 minutes, it said.
The Vatican said Friday that Francis' medical team was placing him on a ventilator with a mask after the bronchospasm and that, based on measurements of oxygen in his blood, he had responded well to the treatment.
Doctors had said that the pontiff seemed to be stabilizing after several successive nights in which he slept restfully.
The Gemelli hospital in Rome has now housed the pope for almost two weeks, and doctors have continued to issue twice-daily updates that have drawn the close attention of devout Catholics worldwide.
Earlier in the week, his medical team shared that he underwent a CT scan to examine the extent of the pneumonia in his two lungs, but even as an in-patient Francis has continued to carry out some of his work.
NPR's Scott Neuman contributed from Washington, D.C.
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