By james art 
Rome – Pope Francis was in a critical condition on Saturday after suffering a long asthmatic respiratory crisis that required high oxygen flows, Vatican said.
88-year-old Francis, who has been hospitalized for a week with complex pulmonary infection, also received a blood transfusion after the tests showed a condition associated with anemia, Vatican said in a late update.
“The Holy Father continues to be alert and spends the day in a chair, although he is in more pain than yesterday. The forecast is currently preserved,” the statement said.
Earlier, doctors said that Francis is fighting pneumonia and a complex respiratory infection that doctors say that there is a touch and will keep it hospitalized for at least another week.
The Vatican continued with his celebrations in the Holy Year without the Pope on Saturday.
On a brief earlier update on Saturday, Francis slept a lot overnight.
But doctors warned that the main threat to Francis would be the onset of sepsis, a serious blood infection that could occur as a complication of pneumonia. As of Friday, there was no evidence of sepsis and Francis responded to the various medicines it was taking, said the Pope’s medical team in his first in -depth update on the Pope’s condition.
“He is not out of danger,” says his doctor, Dr. Luigi Carbon. “So, like all the fragile patients, I say they are always on the gold scale: in other words, it is necessary to become unbalanced very little.”
Francis, who has chronic pulmonary disease, was admitted to Gemeli Hospital on February 14 after a one -week bronchitis worsened.
Doctors first diagnosed the complex infection of the respiratory pathways of viral, bacteria and fungi and then the appearance of pneumonia in both lungs. They prescribed an “absolute break” and a combination of cortisone and antibiotics, along with extra oxygen when he needed it.
Carbon, who, along with Francis’ personal nurse, Massimiliano Strappies, organizes care of him in the Vatican, admitted that he insisted on staying in the Vatican to work, even after he was ill, “because of institutional and private commitments.” He takes care of a cardiologist and an infectious specialist in addition to his personal medical team before being hospitalized.
Dr. Sergio Alfiery, Head of Medicine and Surgery at Jameli’s Hospital in Rome, said the largest threat to Francis is that some of the germs that are currently located in his respiratory system pass into the blood, causing sepsis S Sepsis can lead to organ failure and death.
“The sepsis, with its respiratory problems and its age, would be really difficult to get out,” Alfiery told a press conference on Friday in Gemelli. “The British say” fucking on a tree, “we say” Tap iron. ” Everyone is touching what they want, ”he said as he tapped the microphone. “But this is the real risk in these cases: these germs pass to the blood.”
“He knows he’s in danger,” Alfiery added. “And he told us to relay this.”
Meanwhile, the deacons gathered in the Vatican for their special anniversary weekend. Francis became ill at the beginning of the Holy Year of the Vatican, the celebration of Catholicism once from a quarter -century news. This weekend, Francis had to celebrate deacons, a ministry in the church that preceded the ordination of the priesthood.
In its place, the organizer of the Holy Year will celebrate the liturgy on Sunday, the Vatican said. And for the second consecutive weekend, Francis was expected to skip his traditional blessing on Sunday at noon, which he could have delivered from Jamel if he did it.
“Look, although he is not (physically) here, we know he is here,” said Luis Arldo Lopez Quirindo, a deacon from Ponce, Puerto Rico, who was in the Vatican on Saturday for the anniversary holiday. “He recovers, but he is in our hearts and accompanies us because our prayers and His go together.”
Beyond that, doctors said the recovery of Francis would take time and, despite the fact that he would still have to live with his chronic respiratory problems in the Vatican.
“He has to overcome this infection and we all hope to overcome it,” Alfiery said. “But the fact is that all doors are open.”
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