Pope Francis has developed bilateral pneumonia, the Vatican said Tuesday, after new tests showed a further complication in the condition of the 88-year-old pope.
The Vatican said Francis' respiratory infection also involves asthmatic bronchitis, which required the use of cortisone antibiotic treatment. "Laboratory tests, chest X-ray, and the Holy Father's clinical condition continue to present a complex picture," the Vatican said.
Nevertheless the pope is in good spirits and is grateful for the prayers for his recovery, Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said in a late update.
Earlier, the Vatican on Tuesday canceled papal audiences through the weekend and delegated others to cover for the pope, who remains hospitalized.
While other Vatican operations proceeded as normal, the cancellations put a damper on upcoming events of the Vatican's big Holy Year, the once-every-quarter-century celebration of Catholicism that is aimed at encouraging pilgrims to come to Rome to participate in special Jubilee activities.
Expected to draw some 30 million people to Rome, the Holy Year is packed with special papal audiences and Masses throughout 2025, some of which have now been put into question given Francis' illness.
Francis was admitted to Rome's Gemelli hospital in a "fair" condition on Friday after a weeklong bout of bronchitis worsened.
On Monday, Francis resumed doing some work and made his daily call to a Gaza City parish to check in on the Catholic community there. In a sign that other Vatican business was proceeding as usual Tuesday, the Vatican No. 2, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, continued his delicate visit to Burkina Faso and another top Vatican cardinal, Cardinal Michael Czerny, prepared to leave Wednesday for a five-day visit to Lebanon. But other business had to be canceled.
Francis had part of one lung removed after a pulmonary infection as a young man and is prone to bouts of bronchitis in winter. He has admitted in the past that he is a non-compliant patient, and even his close Vatican aides have said he pushed himself too far even once his bronchitis was diagnosed.
He refused to let up on his busy schedule and ignored medical advice to stay indoors during Rome's chilly winter, insisting on sitting through an outdoor Jubilee Mass for the armed forces on Feb. 9 even though he was having trouble breathing. Francis' hospital admission this year has already sidelined him for longer than a 2023 hospitalization for pneumonia.
