Pope is awake, resting after early stages of kidney problem detected

People pray for Pope Francis in front of the Agostino Gemelli Polyclinic, in Rome, Feb. 23, 2025, where the Pontiff is hospitalized. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

ROME — Pope Francis woke up and was continuing his therapies Monday after a quiet night, on the 10th day of his hospitalization for a complex lung infection that has provoked the early stages of kidney insufficiency, the Vatican said.

“The night passed well, the pope slept and is resting,” it said. The 88-year-old pope is continuing to feed himself and is not receiving artificial or liquid nutrition, the Vatican said, adding that he was in good spirits.

A medical bulletin was expected later in the day. Also later Monday, the Vatican No. 2, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, was to lead a nighttime prayer of the Rosary in St. Peter’s Square.

Late Sunday, doctors reported that blood tests showed “early, slight kidney insufficiency” that was nevertheless under control. They said Francis remained in critical condition but that he hadn’t experienced any further respiratory crises since Saturday.

Francis, who has pneumonia in both lungs, was receiving high flows of supplemental oxygen and, on Sunday, was alert, responsive and attended Mass. They said his prognosis was guarded.

Doctors have said Francis’ condition is touch-and-go, given his age, fragility and pre-existing lung disease. They have warned that the main threat facing Francis is sepsis, a serious infection of the blood that can occur as a complication of pneumonia.

To date there has been no reference to any onset of sepsis in the medical updates provided by the Vatican.

This hospitalization now stands as Francis' longest as pope. He spent 10 days at Rome’s Gemelli hospital in 2021 after he had 33 centimeters (13 inches) of his colon removed.

In New York on Sunday, Cardinal Timothy Dolan acknowledged what church leaders in Rome weren’t saying publicly: that the Catholic faithful were united “at the bedside of a dying father.”

“As our Holy Father Pope Francis is in very, very fragile health, and probably close to death,” Dolan said in his homily from the pulpit of St. Patrick’s Cathedral, though he later told reporters he hoped and prayed that Francis would “bounce back.”

Francis' condition has revived speculation about what might happen if he becomes unconscious or otherwise incapacitated, and whether he might resign.

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This story has been corrected to say that doctors detected early stages of kidney insufficiency, not failure.

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Nicole Winfield, The Associated Press