Pope Francis health latest: Live updates as Vatican confirm pontiff is in critical condition

Wednesday, February 19: He is ‘stable’, according to the Vatican: ‘Blood tests… show a slight improvement, particularly in the inflammatory markers.’ Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni visits him in hospital: ‘I am very happy to have found him alert and responsive. We joked as always.’

Thursday, February 20: Francis is said to be ‘slightly improving’, the Vatican says, with blood tests indicating a stable condition. His doctors hold their first press conference saying he will not die but is not ‘out of danger’.

Saturday, February 22: The Vatican says, ‘The condition of the Holy Father continues to be critical’ – their first use of the word ‘critical’ in statements to date.

Francis has, it adds, ‘an asthma-like respiratory crisis of prolonged intensity, which required the administration of high-flow oxygen’. He also needed blood transfusions as tests showed his platelet count was low.

The Vatican adds: ‘The Holy Father remains alert and spent the day in an armchair although he is more fatigued than yesterday.’

Sunday, February 23: A one-sentence update from the Vatican reads: ‘The night was tranquil, the Pope rested.’ He was said to be awake and alert, with oxygen available through a tube in his nose but breathing unaided.

Pictured, faithfuls in Guatemala City pray yesterday for Pope Francis’ recovery.

As the Pope faces his most serious health crisis yet, here is a timeline of events that have led to him being in critical condition in hospital:

Wednesday, February 5: Francis says in his regular Wednesday general audience at the Vatican that he is fighting off a ‘strong cold’, requesting an aide to read his speech for him, as he says his illness makes it ‘difficult to speak’.

Thursday, February 6: The Vatican announces Francis has bronchitis and will hold scheduled audiences at his residence in the Vatican rather than at the Apostolic Palace over the next two days. He continues his regular activities.

Friday, February 14: After hoping to overcome his bronchitis without going to hospital and determined to keep holding his audiences as planned, Francis is brought to the Gemelli hospital for tests and treatment. It followed him struggling to speak in several meetings.

Monday, February 17: The Vatican says he has a ‘polymicrobial infection of the respiratory tract’, describing this as a ‘complex clinical situation’.

Tuesday, February 18: The Pope’s calendar is cleared by the Vatican until February 23, which then later announces he has developed double pneumonia – across both lungs.

Pictured, below, a projection of Francis with a caption reading in Spanish, ‘Francis, the city prays for you’, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, the city of his birth.

Two or three weeks after the funeral of the previous pope, senior church committee, the College of Cardinals, would meet in Rome’s Sistine Chapel to hold a conclave – the secretive process of papal election.

Theoretically, any baptised Roman Catholic man could become pope – but in reality, the candidate has always come from the College of Cardinals.

Most of the 266 pontiffs have been European. Francis, born in Argentina, is the first non-European to take the role in 1,300 years.

There is no campaigning involved when candidates run for election.

On voting day, the Sistine Chapel is closed and the cardinals are locked inside. Only cardinals younger than 80 can vote.

Around 120 of them, having taken an oath of secrecy, will vote in secret for their desired candidate, placing their ballot paper in a chalice on the altar.

If no one gets a two-thirds majority, another round of voting occurs – and there can be up to four rounds a day.

Francis’ election in 2013 (pictured below) took around 24 hours and five ballots, relatively short compared to how long it could take – one 13th-century conclave took around three years and an 18th-century one took four months.

After the votes are counted, they are burned inside the Sistine Chapel in a stove previously installed by Vatican firefighters.

Via a chimney, they burn certain chemicals to send a colour-coded signal to the world about the election result – black smoke means a new pope has not been chosen yet, while white smoke (pictured below) means the new leader has been selected.

Footage has emerged of the Pope’s suite at the Gemelli hospital in Rome where he is being treated for early kidney failure, following bronchitis and pneumonia in both lungs, as the Vatican confirms he is in ‘critical condition’.

After Pope John Paul II stayed at the Gemelli hospital several times, before passing away in 2005, a papal suite was created at the hospital on the top floor.

Nicknamed ‘Vatican III’ by John Paul II, the dedicated room allows the leaders of the Catholic Church to be hospitalised securely and in a peaceful environment.

The suite has a bedroom, bathroom, a chapel, two small lounges, a room for security guards, a meeting room for doctors and a secretaries’ room.

His funeral would most likely be in St Peter’s Square, Vatican City, around four to six days after his death. It would be led by the dean of senior church committee the College of Cardinals.

The pope is then normally buried in the crypt underneath St Peter’s Basilica, named the Vatican Grottoes, along with the nearly 100 other popes laid to rest there.

But Francis announced in 2023 he would be buried in the Santa Maria Maggiore basilica in Rome, one of the city’s four papal basilicas and a personal favourite of Francis who goes there often.

Seven other popes are buried there – but Francis would be the first pope in a century to be buried outside the Vatican.

Popes have previously been buried in three coffins, nested inside each other – one cypress, one zinc and one elm.

Francis, in keeping with his desire to simplify his rites, would be buried in one coffin, made from wood and zinc.

He would also likely be buried with what is known as his ‘rogito’, an 1,000-word document about his life and reign.

Pictured below is the funeral of Francis’ predecessor Benedict XVI, who died in 2022:

Francis’ cousin Carla Rabezzana (pictured below), 93, said yesterday she was very concerned for her relative’s health.

Ms Rabezzana, who still lives in the family’s hometown of Portacomaro, near Turin, said: ‘We are all extremely worried.

‘We hope he will feel better soon and get over this bad moment, I am very agitated.’

She added: ‘We are all praying for him to get out of hospital.’

The pope’s cousin added that the local church had been full of worshippers.

He paid a private visit to relatives in the town three years ago (pictured) and met suppporters in in Asti in the Piedmont region his family’s hometown is in. He presided over a mass at the city’s cathedral and received honorary citizenship of Asti.

The pope’s death would be followed by nine days of mourning, a period known as the Novendiale, which originated in Ancient Rome. Italy would also go into national mourning.

His body would be displayed in St Peter’s Basilica, after it was blessed and dressed in papal vestments, for his supporters to come to pay their respects.

Francis requested, last year, simplified rites – instead of his body being displayed on a raised platform, he would lie in an open coffin.

During this time, daily prayer and Requiem Masses will be held at the Basilica and across the globe.

The Vatican will enter a period named sede vacante, meaning ‘the seat is vacant’. It marks the time when senior church committee, the College of Cardinals, temporarily rules the church. It cannot make major decisions in this time.

In the past, many popes were embalmed and had their organs removed before being buried but these practices have largely been left behind now. A church near the Trevi Fountain in the Italian capital has the hearts of more than 20 popes in marble urns, as holy relics.

Below are pictures of several masses held in Mexico City, Mexico, yesterday, to pray for the health of the Pope:

Anxious supporters of Francis from around the world have been praying for his full recovery over the course of his 11 days in hospital.

He spoke from his hospital bed yesterday to thank his doctors and all the people sending ‘prayers of comfort’ from across the globe.

He said: ‘I am confidently continuing my hospitalisation at the Gemelli Hospital, carrying on with the necessary treatment – and rest is also part of the therapy!’

He added: ‘In recent days I have received many messages of affection and I have been particularly struck by the letters and drawings from children.

‘Thank you for this closeness and for the prayers of comfort I have received from all over the world! I entrust you all to the intercession of Mary and I ask you to pray for me.’

Our reporter has more – and pictures have poured in from across the world of Francis’ supporters making the ‘prayers of comfort’ he so valued. Here are some from outside the Gemelli hospital in Rome:

The first thing to happen when a pope dies is the confirmation of their death. A senior Vatican official called the camerlengo visits the pope’s body in their private chapel and tries to rouse him, confirming the death when the pontiff does not respond.

This symbolic, ceremonial process would, these days, tend to follow a standard medical confirmation of death.

When the pope does not respond to the camerlengo, their signet ring – used as a seal for official documents – is destroyed, marking the end of their papacy. The papal apartments are closed off.

The camerlengo then tells a senior church committee called the College of Cardinals the pope has died – before the Vatican announces it to the world media.

The current camerlengo is Irish Cardinal Kevin Farrell (pictured).

With Francis experiencing the longest hospitalisation of his papacy, the Catholic world is preparing for the worst.

Last year, he approved a more stripped back version of a papal funeral for himself, getting rid of some of the more archaic rituals that traditionally come with such an event.

But still, the series of events that would happen if the Pope were to pass away is one that has been honed over centuries, with some aspects dating back to Ancient Rome.

And at the end, there would be an election to select the new Catholic leader – just like in the Oscar-nominated film Conclave (pictured, Ralph Fiennes as Cardinal Thomas Lawrence) – watching over the spiritual life of a billion people around the world.

We will break the process down into four parts: his death, burial and mourning period, and the election that follows.

The Vatican’s one-line update from this morning, saying that the Pope was resting after a good night’s sleep, did not mention if Francis had woken up.

Late last night, doctors reported that blood tests showed early kidney failure – but it was under control.

He remains in critical condition but has not experienced any further respiratory crises since Saturday when he had a prolonged asthmatic attack.

He was receiving high amounts of oxygen and yesterday, he was alert, responsive and attended Mass.

Doctors have said the pontiff’s condition is touch and go, given his age, fragility and pre-existing chronic lung disease.

They have warned that the main threat he faces is sepsis, a serious infection of the blood that can happen as a complication of pneumonia.

But the Vatican itself has not yet mentioned sepsis in its regular updates on his condition.

Francis spent ten days at the Gemelli hospital in 2021 after he had part of his colon removed.

Francis had a good night last night, according to an update from the Vatican this morning, and is resting after he was ‘well oriented’ on Sunday and attended Mass.

‘The night passed well, the pope slept and is resting’, the statement said.

Our reporter has more in our latest coverage of the Pope’s ongoing health crisis:

Hello and welcome to MailOnline’s live coverage as Pope Francis remains in critical condition and is suffering early kidney failure in hospital, according to the Vatican’s latest announcement.

The 88-year-old pontiff has been receiving treatment for pneumonia and a complex lung infection for 11 days at Rome’s Gemelli hospital since being admitted with breathing difficulties on February 14.

It makes this the longest hospitalisation of his papacy, since he became leader of the worldwide Catholic Church since 2013.

Stick with us as we bring you the latest updates from this breaking news story.