ROME — Pope Francis is seriously worried about his health after being hospitalized with severe bronchitis, and is rushing to tie up loose ends ahead the battle to succeed him.
The pope was admitted to a special ward earlier this month in Gemelli Hospital in Rome with a respiratory infection, and he has since been forced to cancel a number of public appearances.
It’s the latest health crisis for the 88-year-old pontiff, who had part of a lung removed as a young man and has become increasingly fragile in recent years. The Holy See press office has trickled out continuous updates, and on Monday said the Pope’s bronchitis had advanced to a “polymicrobial infection” with a “complex clinical picture.”
According to two people familiar with the matter, Francis has been suffering from intense pain and has privately expressed fears that he won’t make it this time. On Sunday, doctors at Gemelli distressed the pope by barring him from delivering his regular morning Angelus sermon, which he has rarely missed, even when hospitalized, said one of the people and a third person. He is now acting entirely on “doctors’ orders,” said one of them.
The pope initially resisted going to hospital but was told in no uncertain terms that he was at risk of dying if he stayed in his room in the Vatican, the second person added.
As his health has deteriorated over the last month, Francis has also moved to complete key initiatives and appoint sympathetic figures to key posts, following a progressive-tinted papacy marked by bitter ideological divisions.
Since he became pope in 2013, Francis has aimed to make the Church more inclusive, opening up key roles to women and LGBT+ people. While that has provoked furious reaction from many conservatives, liberals complain that the reforms have been insufficient. Meanwhile, the pope’s efforts to put an end to rampant child abuse by clerics have produced mixed results.
Papal succession will be political
On Feb. 6, before he was hospitalized, he extended the term of the Italian cardinal Giovanni Battista Re as dean of the College of Cardinals, a role that will oversee some preparations for a potential conclave, the secretive gathering that determines the selection of a new pope. The move, which controversially sidestepped a scheduled vote on the next dean by top cardinals, was intended to ensure that the process plays out according to Francis’s wishes, the people said.
Re, a longtime Vatican operator, is too old to participate in the conclave himself. Nevertheless, he will be a pivotal figure in the behind-closed-doors discussions that often take place before the conclave. That Francis selected him as dean instead of a younger candidate suggests he wanted to keep a friendly face in the role who would defend his legacy, said one of the people.
“The run-up to the conclave is more important as that’s where lobbying goes on,” the person said.
Ahead of the 2013 conclave that elected him pope, Francis himself reportedly benefitted from the influence of a group of cardinals who were too old to participate in the proceedings but nevertheless held sway over the outcome.
Re’s continuation in the role will also see him deliver funeral rites for Francis should he die. The pope has privately joked that Re will be “kinder” to him than other candidates, a second person added.
The Holy See’s press office declined to comment.
Before his health took a turn for the worse, Francis was navigating a politically sensitive moment. Earlier this month, he issued an extraordinary rebuke of United States Vice President JD Vance’s characterization of Ordo Amoris, a theological concept relating to love that Vance used to justify President Donald Trump’s migrant policy. The papal pushback triggered fury from the White House, raising the prospect of a highly politicized succession battle should Francis die.
“They’ve already influenced European politics, they’d have no problem influencing the conclave,” said one close observer of Vatican politics, referring to the Trump administration. “They might be looking for someone less confrontational.”
On Saturday, the pontiff also sped up his unprecedented reformist move to appoint a nun, Sister Raffaella Petrini, as the next and first woman governor of Vatican City, announcing that Petrini’s term would begin on March 1. That date was earlier than some expected and triggered unease about his health among allies, according to one high-ranking Church official. However, it might also have been a coincidence: the current governor, Cardinal Fernando Vérgez Alzaga, will turn 80 that day, making him ineligible for the role.
Even if Francis survives his latest illness, observers see this as a likely turning point as Francis shifts focus from making headway on reform to locking it in.
“He may not die now but of course he eventually will,” said one Vatican official. “We all die — and he’s an 88-year-old man with lung problems.”
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