Pope Francis was so gravely ill during his prolonged hospital stay that doctors considered stopping his pneumonia treatment to allow him to pass away peacefully, the head of his medical team revealed on Tuesday, March 25.
The 88-year-old pontiff’s most critical moment came on February 28 when he nearly choked on his own vomit after being hospitalized for severe breathing difficulties, according to Sergio Alfieri, a leading physician at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital.
“There was a real risk he might not survive,” Alfieri told Italy’s Corriere della Sera newspaper.
“We had to decide whether to stop treatment and let him go or push forward with every possible drug and therapy, knowing the risk of damaging his other organs.”
“In the end, we chose to move forward,” he added.
Francis was admitted to Gemelli Hospital on February 14 for bronchitis, which quickly worsened into double pneumonia—a dangerous condition, given that he had part of one lung removed in his youth.
Throughout his 38-day battle, the Vatican provided frequent updates on his condition.
According to Alfieri, it was the pope’s personal nurse, Massimiliano Strappetti, who urged the medical team to continue treatment following the vomiting episode.
“Try everything, we won’t give up,” Strappetti insisted, a sentiment shared by the medical team.
“For days, we risked harming his kidneys and bone marrow, but we persisted—and his body responded to the treatment. The lung infection eventually improved,” Alfieri explained.
The details of Francis’ harrowing fight for survival emerged just as he made a frail but determined appearance on the hospital balcony to greet well-wishers before returning to the Vatican after five weeks.
“I saw him leave the 10th-floor hospital room dressed in white,” Alfieri recalled. “It was an emotional moment—seeing the man become the pope again.”
