Source: Reuters
“Pope Francis came so close to death at one point during his 38-day fight in hospital against pneumonia that his doctors considered ending treatment so he could die in peace, the head of the pope’s medical team said. After a breathing crisis on February 28 that involved Francis nearly choking on his vomit, ‘there was a real risk he might not make it,’ said Sergio Alfieri, a physician at Rome’s Gemelli hospital. ‘We had to choose if we would stop there and let him go, or to go forward and push it with all the drugs and therapies possible, running the highest risk of damaging his other organs,’ Alfieri told, opens new tab Italy’s Corriere della Sera in an interview published on Tuesday. ‘In the end, we took this path,’ he said. Francis, 88, returned to the Vatican on Sunday after the most serious health crisis of his 12-year papacy.” (03/25/25)