Pope Francis struggles with pneumonia, placed on noninvasive mechanical ventilation

In a late update, the Vatican said the episodes were caused by a ‘significant accumulation’ of mucus in his lungs and bronchial spasms The moon moves behind the cross on top of St Peter's Basilica ahead of the recitation of the Holy Rosary for Pope Francis' health in St Peter's Square at the Vatican. AP Pope Francis experienced two additional severe respiratory crises Monday and was placed back on noninvasive mechanical ventilation, the Vatican reported, in another setback in his struggle against pneumonia. “Copious secretions,” were extracted during the bronchoscopies and the pope was put back on noninvasive mechanical ventilation, a mask that covers his nose and mouth and pumps oxygen into the lungs, the Vatican said. “We need men like him who are truly universal and not only one-sided,” Paglia said, speaking after a press conference to launch the annual assembly of his Pontifical Academy for Life, the Vatican’s bioethics academy, which has as this year’s theme “The End of the World?” Francis wrote a message to the assembly in which he lamented that international organizations are increasingly ineffective to combat the threats facing the world and are being undermined by “short-sighted attitudes concerned with protecting particular and national interests.” It was dated Feb. 26 and signed “from Gemelli Polyclinic.” Doctors often use noninvasive ventilation to stave off an intubation, or the use of invasive mechanical ventilation. Francis articulated that to a meeting of Paglia’s bioethics body in 2017, saying there was “no obligation to have recourse in all circumstances to every possible remedy.” He added: “It thus makes possible a decision that is morally qualified as withdrawal of ‘overzealous treatment.’” Paglia, whose office helps articulate the Catholic Church’s position on end-of-life care, said Francis is like any other Catholic and would follow church teaching if it came to that.