Pope Francis still in critical condition on 10th day of hospitalization, Vatican says, tying longest of his papacy

Rome — Pope Francis was resting Monday morning after a quiet night on the 10th day of his hospitalization for a complex lung infection that has provoked the early stages of kidney failure, the Vatican said.

The one-line statement didn’t say if Francis, 88, had woken up. “The night passed well, the pope slept and is resting,” it said.

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

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

He 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’ve 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, including Sunday’s.

Monday marks Francis’ 10th day in the hospital, equaling the longest hospitalization of his papacy. He spent 10 days at Rome’s Gemelli hospital in 2021 after he had 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.”