Rome-Papa Francesco suffered an isolated guise of cough on Friday who brought to him by inhaling the vomiting and requesting non-invasive mechanical ventilation, the Vatican said in transmitting an alarming setting in his long two weeks against the double pneumonia.
The 88 -year -old Pope remained aware and vigilant at all times and collaborated with the maneuvers to help him recover. He replied well, with a good level of oxygen exchange and continued to wear a mask to receive extra oxygen, said the Vatican. 
The episode, which occurred in the early afternoon, caused a “sudden worsening of the respiratory picture”. The doctors decided to maintain the prognosis of Francis kept and indicated that they needed 24-48 hours to evaluate how and if the episode influenced its general clinical condition.
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The development marked a setback in those that had been two following days of increasingly optimistic relationships by the doctors who dealt with Francis at the Gemelli hospital in Rome from February 14th. The Pope, who had been part of a lung removed as a young man, has lung diseases and was admitted after a worse bronchitis attack and turned into pneumonia into both lungs.
Dr. John Coleman, a pulmonary doctor in intensive care of the Chicago Northwestern Medicine, said that the episode broadcast by the Vatican was alarming and underlined the fragility of Francis and that his conditions “can become very quickly”.
“I think this is extremely worrying, given that the Pope has been in the hospital for over two weeks, and now he continues to have these respiratory events and now he has this aspiration event that requires even higher support levels,” he told the Associated Press.
“Thus, given his age and his fragile state and his previous pulmonary resection, this is very worrying,” added Coleman, who is not involved in Francis’ care.
Dr. William Feldman, a pulmonary specialist at Brigham and at the Boston women’s hospital, said that it was a good sign that the Pope remained alert and oriented, but he agreed that the episode marked “a worrying turning point”.
“We will often use non -invasive ventilation as a way to try to avoid intubation or use of invasive mechanical ventilation,” said Feldman.
The types of non -invasive ventilation include a Bipap machine, which helps people breathe by pushing the air into their lungs. Doctors will often try such a machine for a while to see if the patient’s gas levels of the blood improve so that they can eventually return to use oxygen on its own.
The episode, which the doctors described as an “isolated crisis of bronchial spasm” began as a fit of cough in which Francis has inhaled vomiting. The longest respiratory crisis that Francis suffered on February 22 was a longer crisis in breathing, said the Vatican.
The doctors did not resume referring to the fact that Francis is in “critical condition”, which has been absent from their statements for three days. But they say it is not out of danger, given the complexity of his case.
On Friday before, Francis had spent the morning alternating high flows of extra oxygen with a mask and praying in the chapel. He had breakfast, read the newspapers of the day and was receiving respiratory physiotherapy, said the Vatican.
The Vatican also published a document signed by Francis on February 26 “by the Gemelli Polyclinic”, a new official slogan showing that Francis was still working from the hospital.
The prayers continued to pour
Last Friday, the closest friend of Francis in the Vatican bureaucracy, the Argentine cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, guided the night prayer in the square of San Pietro to pray for the health of Francis.
With other cardinals in Bundle against the night cold, Fernández urged the crowd to pray not only for Francis but for the others as Pope himself would do.
“It is certainly close to the heart of the Holy Father that our prayer is not only for him, but also for all those who in this particular dramatic and suffering moment of the world, bring the harsh weight of the war, the disease, poverty,” said Fernández, head of the Vatican doctrine.
In Mexico City, some dozens of people gathered on Thursday evening in the cathedral to pray for Francis’ healing.
“It’s like a part of the family,” said Araceli Gutiérrez, who treasure the time that saw the Pope during his journey in the country of almost 100 million Catholics in 2016. “That’s why we feel so worried about him”.
María Teresa Sánchez, who was visiting Colombia with her sister, said she has always felt near Francis – the first Latin American pope.
“It’s like having a relative inside the highest, with God,” he said. “He did so much for religion; He is such a humble person. “
Johnson contributed from Washington’s state. The writer of the Associated Press Maria Hernandez contributed to Mexico City.
