Pope stable in hospital and ‘asks for prayers’, Vatican says – as doctors treat ‘complex’ infection
The pope’s condition is “stable” and he is “touched by messages of affection”, the Vatican has said in an update amid his hospital stay.
Earlier on Monday, the Vatican said Pope Francis’ respiratory tract infection is presenting a “complex clinical picture” and he will need to remain in hospital. Concerns have been growing about the 88-year-old’s increasingly frail health.
Spokesman Matteo Bruni said the results of tests conducted in recent days indicate the pontiff is suffering from a “polymicrobial respiratory tract infection” that needed a further change in his drug therapy.
Polymicrobial infections are caused by a mix of viruses, bacteria, fungi and parasites.
In a later update on Monday, the Vatican said his clinical conditions are stable and that he “read and worked” on Monday morning, adding “he’s touched by the numerous messages of affection and closeness that he continues to receive in these hours”.
“In particular he intends to thank those who are currently hospitalised, for the affection and love that they express through the drawings and good wishes; he prays for them and asks that they pray for him.”
It was not specified earlier whether the pope was suffering from a bacterial or viral infection.
There was no length of time given for the pope’s hospitalisation, but the spokesman added the complexity of his symptoms “will require an appropriate hospital stay”.
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‘I hope he gets well’: People react to Pope Francis
The pope was admitted to Rome’s Gemelli hospital in a “fair” condition on Friday to be treated for a respiratory tract infection.
His doctors have advised complete rest. He was unable to deliver his regular weekly prayer on Sunday to pilgrims in St Peter’s Square or lead a special mass for artists to mark the Catholic Church’s Jubilee Year.
On social media at the weekend, the pope wrote: “Thank you for the affection, prayer and closeness with which you accompany me in these days.”
The pope had been suffering from bronchitis for more than a week before he was taken to hospital.
He is said to have insisted on finishing his morning audiences on Friday before leaving the Vatican to be admitted to hospital.
The pope was finding it increasingly difficult to complete speeches and commitments last week because he was short of breath.
The pope is being treated at Rome’s Gemelli hospital. Pic: AP
‘Pope sounded a bit tired’
However, from his hospital bed at the weekend, the pope continued to make phone calls to members of a Catholic parish in Gaza, Italian broadcaster Mediaset reported.
A parish member said the pope had called on both Friday and Saturday and was in “good humour” but sounded “a bit tired”.
The pope’s next scheduled appointment is his weekly general audience on Wednesday.
He is then due to preside on Sunday at the ordination of deacons as part of a Holy Year weekend.
Both commitments remain on the official Vatican schedule, but appear to be in doubt.
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The pontiff is being treated at Rome’s largest hospital in a suite designed for popes.
The Argentinian pope had part of one lung removed after a pulmonary infection as a young man.
When he had a bad case of pneumonia in 2023, he left hospital after three days – he later said he had been admitted after feeling faint and having a sharp pain in his chest.
In the same year, Pope Francis spent nine days at the Gemelli hospital when he had surgery for an abdominal hernia.
Age making it harder for Pope to beat infections
As we age, our ability to fight off infections or ailments that wouldn’t have troubled us before gradually diminishes.
Pope Francis is 88 and unlike many people lucky enough to live that long, has a demanding job that likely leaves less time for the rest that our bodies, especially ageing ones, need.
The latest update from the Vatican suggests he isn’t gravely ill – able to sit up and eat breakfast – but that his doctors have concluded the bronchitis he is suffering will require a longer hospital stay.
Bronchitis – an inflammation of the main airways leading to the lungs – can be severe as it can narrow those pipes leading to difficulty breathing.
It’s only a real concern if the infection doesn’t respond well to treatment and spreads deeper into the lungs themselves causing pneumonia.
The Vatican has said the pope’s infection is “polymicrobial” meaning more than one type of microbe (bacteria, virus or fungal agent) has been identified.
That will mean adjusting the types of medication used to treat the infection, which in some cases can be tricky, especially if one of the bugs is resistant to common antimicrobial drugs – something that is increasingly common.
The pope is possibly more vulnerable to lung infections than a person of equivalent age as he had part of one lung removed following a severe infection when he was just 21.
He was previously hospitalised in 2023 with pneumonia and made a good recovery.
Beyond that, it’s unwise for anyone to pontificate on anyone’s personal health, least of all the pontiff’s.
Elon Musk could be on track for a $1trn pay packet.
Tesla shareholders have approved the whopping financial package for the CEO – who’s already worth an estimated $491bn – if he hits a series of ambitious targets over the next 10 years.
But that $1trn figure (or £761,910,000,000) – which is both one thousand billion and one million million – is almost impossible to imagine for most people.
Even so, we have drilled down into the numbers and examined what you can do with a trillion US dollars – and it turns out, quite a lot.
Show me the money
Laid end to end, a trillion one-dollar bills would cover a distance of approximately 156 billion metres.
That could wrap around the equator 3,890 times, easily reach the sun from Earth (around 149.6 million km) or loop from Earth to the moon 405 times.
That many one-dollar notes could cover a massive area (roughly 10,339 km squared), meaning you could blanket nearly all of Lebanon or Jamaica in bills.
Spend it on sport
You could splash out on virtually all of the world’s major sporting leagues.
The clubs which make up the Premier League are relatively cheap ($30bn), and even when snapping up the UEFA Champions League clubs and the big five top divisions of Spain, Italy, Germany, and France, there’s still $858bn left in the kitty.
The four major US sports leagues for ice hockey, baseball, basketball, and American football (NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL) have a rough valuation of $544bn, according to Sportico.
But then add the IPL cricket league ($120bn) and F1 ($23.1bn) and Musk still has change from an estimated total spend of $829.7bn.
Elon Musk is in the money if he hits targets set by Tesla’s shareholders. File pic: AP
Take over Tesla’s rivals
He could buy up the top 15 largest publicly traded automakers (excluding Tesla) by market capitalisation.
They would include firms like Japan’s Toyota ($275bn), Chinese automaker BYD ($120bn), and luxury brands like Ferrari ($81bn) and Mercedes-Benz ($62bn), as well as BMW ($52bn), Volkswagen ($50bn) and Ford ($48bn).
But there would still be a little change left over; the total bill would be an eye-watering $992bn.
Buy up San Diego
He could buy up every single residential property in San Diego County – valued at a total of $1trn. Seattle is just slightly out of reach at $1.1trn, according to recent data from real estate firm Zillow.
But if he wanted to buy big – there is always Tennessee. The total value of homes in the US state is estimated at $957bn. Or there is Maryland, which at $1.01trn could be bought if he can find a little more cash behind the sofa.
Sadly, he would struggle to scoop up London’s entire housing stock, which in February was valued at just under £2trn ($2.53trn), according to agents Savills.
Cities like New York ($4.6trn) and Los Angeles ($3.9trn) are also not within his budget, hosting America’s most expensive residential markets.
Do something charitable?
There is always the possibility Musk could follow in the footsteps of Microsoft founder Bill Gates, who intends to give away 99% of his vast fortune over the next 20 years.
He could give every single man, woman, and child in the US a share of his cash pile. They would receive approximately $2,917.32 (£2,223.29), based on a population estimate of 342.7 million.
Although it would be roughly $14,348.79 (£10,935.20) for every person (roughly 69.6 million) in the UK.
If he wanted to give the entire globe an early Christmas present, then based on the rough world population estimate of 8.2 billion, everyone would receive $121.80 (£92.87).
Pay off the credit card
With $1trn, he could instantly rewrite history and erase debt interest payments and the government debt from dozens of the world’s sovereign nations.
Or Musk could wipe out the debts of Singapore ($1trn) or South Korea ($0.99trn) in one go, according to figures from the International Monetary Fund’s latest World Economic Outlook (Oct 2025).
But when it comes to the biggest debt-laden countries, $1trn would not even touch the sides.
The US has $38.3trn of government debt (just over one third of the total global debt pile) while the UK has a modest $4.1trn.
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