Pope sitting up out of bed in hospital as he recovers from pneumonia

Questions have been raised about the pope’s health and whether he might decide to resign if he does not recover fully.

Candles with pictures of Pope Francis are laid under the statue of late Pope John Paul II outside Agostino Gemelli Polyclinic in Rome (Andrew Medichini/AP)

Pope Francis continued his recovery from pneumonia on Thursday, eating breakfast out of bed and working with his aides in hospital, the Vatican said.

“If you really want him to rest, you have to hospitalise him,” quipped Cardinal Jean-Marc Aveline, the archbishop of Marseille, France, referring to Francis’ work ethic.

He was speaking at a Vatican news conference about a Mediterranean youth peace initiative alongside his counterpart from Barcelona, Cardinal Juan Jose Omella Omella.

Pope Francis has developed bilateral pneumonia (Alessandra Tarantino/AP)

But given the limited amount of information about Francis’ condition, they were peppered with questions about the pope’s health and whether he might decide to resign if he does not recover fully.

“Everything is possible,” Cardinal Aveline said.

Regardless, Cardinal Omella insisted that the life of the church continued even with Francis in the hospital.

“Popes change, we bishops change, priests in parishes change, communities change. But the train continues being on the move,” he said.

Another cardinal, Gianfranco Ravasi, had commented earlier in the day on the possibility of resignation when asked if Francis might decide to follow in the footsteps of Pope Benedict XVI and step down if he becomes too ill.

Benedict became the first pope in 600 years to retire when he concluded in 2013 that he did not have the physical strength to carry on the rigours of the globe-trotting papacy.

Faithful pray for Pope Francis’ health during a Mass in Buenos Aires, Argentina (Rodrigo Abd/AP)

“There is no question that if he (Francis) was in a situation where his ability to have direct contact (with people) as he likes to do… was compromised, then I think he might decide to resign,” Cardinal Ravasi was quoted as telling RTL 102.5 radio.

Francis has already confirmed that shortly after being elected pontiff he wrote a resignation letter in case medical problems impeded him from carrying out his duties.

There is no provision in canon law for what to do if a pope becomes incapacitated.

There is no indication Francis is in anyway incapacitated.

Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said he woke up on Thursday, got out of bed and had breakfast in an armchair, and for the past several days he has worked from his hospital room with his aides.

Blood tests on Wednesday showed a “slight improvement” in some inflammation indices for the 88-year-old pontiff, who had an acute case of pneumonia in 2023 and is prone to respiratory infections in winter.

People walk in front of the main entrance of the Agostino Gemelli Polyclinic in Rome (Andrew Medichini/AP)

Francis was admitted to Rome’s Gemelli hospital on February 14 after a bout of bronchitis worsened.

Doctors on Tuesday diagnosed pneumonia in both lungs, on top of a polymicrobial infection in his respiratory tract, meaning a combination of bacteria, viral and other organisms.

He is taking a combination of antibiotics and cortisone for what doctors also diagnosed as asthmatic bronchitis.

Archbishop Giuseppe Satriano of Bari said he was sad that Francis was sick but confident he would recover, recalling he proved the naysayers wrong when he completed a gruelling four-nation trip to Asia in September.

“Even during the long trip in Asia, the Swiss Guards and gendarmes came back more tired than he, and we all feared he’d come back destroyed,” Archbishop Satriano said.

“But he’s a fighter, so I think he’ll win this battle.”