Pope has coffee, rests after setback in recovery — a bronchial spasm requiring further ventilation

Pope Francis recovering from double pneumonia setback, placed on noninvasive mechanical ventilation after coughing fit with vomit inhalation.

Pope Francis had coffee and was reading newspapers Saturday (March 1, 2025) after an alarming setback in his two-week recovery from double pneumonia: Doctors had to put him on noninvasive mechanical ventilation following a coughing fit in which he inhaled vomit that needed to then be extracted.

Doctors said it would take a day or two to evaluate how and if the Friday afternoon episode impacted Pope Francis’ overall clinical condition. His prognosis remained guarded, meaning he wasn’t out of danger.

Also read | Pope Francis, two weeks into hospital stay, continues slow recovery

In its morning update Saturday, the Vatican said the 88-year-old Pope didn't have any further respiratory crises overnight: “The night has passed quietly, the Pope is resting." He had coffee in the morning for breakfast, suggesting that he was not dependent on a ventilation mask to breathe and was still eating on his own.

In the late Friday update, the Vatican said Pope Francis suffered an “isolated crisis of bronchial spasm,” a coughing fit in which Pope Francis inhaled vomit, that resulted in a “sudden worsening of the respiratory picture.” Doctors aspirated the vomit and placed Pope Francis on noninvasive mechanical ventilation.

The Pope remained conscious and alert at all times and cooperated with the maneuvers to help him recover. He responded well, with a good level of oxygen exchange and was continuing to wear a mask to receive supplemental oxygen, the Vatican said.

The episode, which occurred in the early afternoon, marked a setback in what had been two successive days of increasingly upbeat reports from doctors treating Francis at Rome’s Gemelli hospital since Feb. 14. The Pope, who had part of one lung removed as a young man, has lung disease and was admitted after a bout of bronchitis worsened and turned into pneumonia in both lungs.