Meloni visits Pope Francis in hospital, says he is ‘alert and responsive’ and full of good humor

Following Tuesday’s statement that Pope Francis had been diagnosed with double pneumonia, the Vatican said his blood tests had shown positive results, and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said they ‘joked around as always’ during her 20-minute visit on Wednesday.

Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni visited Pope Francis for 20 minutes in the hospital Wednesday, February 19, and reported he was “alert and responsive” and full of good humor, despite his diagnosis of pneumonia and a complicated bronchial infection that has sidelined the 88-year-old pontiff for six days.

The Vatican said Francis’ overall condition remained stationary, but that blood tests showed a “slight improvement” in key inflammation indices. Francis also worked in the afternoon with his collaborators, the Vatican said in a late statement.

Meloni said she wanted to bring get-well wishes to the pope on behalf of the government and entire nation. ”We joked around as always. He has not lost his proverbial sense of humor,” she said in a statement issued by her office.

Meloni is the first confirmed outside visitor known to have called on the pope, beyond his secretaries and medical team, since his admission Friday at Rome’s Gemelli hospital, where popes have their own suite on the 10th floor. Her visit, announced only after it was over, appeared aimed at sending a reassuring message, especially to Italians who haven’t seen even a photograph of Francis since Friday.

The Holy See had initially said the Argentine pope’s clinical conditions were “stable” on his sixth day at Rome’s Gemelli hospital, where on Tuesday it revealed he had been diagnosed with pneumonia in both of his lungs.

“The blood tests, evaluated by the medical staff, show a slight improvement, particularly in inflammatory indices,” said the Vatican in a statement Wednesday. Following breakfast, he “dedicated himself to work activities with his closest collaborators,” it added.

The double pneumonia diagnosis caused widespread alarm over the pope’s health, after a series of issues in recent years, from colon and hernia surgery to problems walking.

Yet amid much speculation online, including reports of his supposed death, the Vatican issued an early bulletin Wednesday saying he had spent a “peaceful night” in the hospital’s papal suite and had breakfast.

‘Complex picture’

The pope, who has been head of the Catholic Church since 2013, keeps a full schedule despite his age and ailments, and this year is busy with celebrations of the holy Jubilee year. However, he had struggled to read his homilies in the days before his hospital admission.

After an initial diagnosis of bronchitis, the Holy See revealed on Tuesday evening that tests “continue to present a complex picture.”

A “polymicrobial infection” which has come on top of “bronchiectasis and asthmatic bronchitis, and which required the use of cortisone antibiotic therapy, makes therapeutic treatment more complex,” the Vatican said. Bronchiectasis is when the bronchi, or air passages, thicken due to infection or another condition. “The follow-up chest CT scan which the Holy Father underwent … demonstrated the onset of bilateral pneumonia, which required additional drug therapy,” it added.

The Vatican has cancelled a papal audience on Saturday and said the pope would not attend a mass on Sunday, although it has yet to announce plans for his weekly Angelus prayer, which is held on Sunday at midday.

‘Vital energy’

Cardinal Baldassare Reina, vicar general of the Diocese of Rome, called on all parishes in the Italian capital to pray for the pope’s recovery. Candles, some with pictures of the pope on them, have been set at the bottom of a statue of Pope John Paul II outside the Gemelli hospital, where pilgrims have been coming to pray.

Jesuit theologian Antonio Spadaro, who is close to Francis, told Italy’s Corriere della Sera daily the pope could be in hospital for two to three weeks. “It is clear that the situation is delicate, but I have not perceived any form of alarmism,” he said. The pope “has an extraordinary vital energy. He is not a person who lets himself go, he is not a resigned man. And that is a very positive element, we have seen that in the past,” he said.

The pope has left open the option of resigning were he to become unable to carry out his duties. However, in a memoir last year Francis said it was just a “distant possibility” that would be justified only in the event of “a serious physical impediment.”