Pope Francis ‘rested’ but still needs oxygen, latest update says
While Italy’s main news agency reported that Pope Francis’ respiratory “crisis” had subsided, a Vatican source said he was still receiving supplemental oxygen by nasal cannula early Feb. 23.
The evening before, the 88-year-old pope’s doctors said that he had experienced “an asthmatic respiratory crisis of prolonged magnitude, which also required the use of oxygen at high flows.”
The doctors, in a bulletin released by the Vatican Feb. 22, also said the pope had required a blood transfusion because of a low platelet count and described his condition as “critical,” adding that “at the moment the prognosis is reserved.”