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Pope Francis has urged people to pray from him as he battled a serious pneumonia infection from his hospital bed in Rome.

The 88-year-old Pontiff was rushed to Rome‘s Gemelli hospital on 14 February where he is fighting the disease in both lungs.

He is fighting a “complex” infection and was given oxygen and blood transfusions on Saturday amid fears it could spread to his bloodstream and cause sepsis, Gemelli’s Dr Sergio Alfieri said.

“I am confidently continuing my hospitalisation, carrying on with the necessary treatment,” he said in a pre-written message released by the Vatican on Sunday.

“I ask you to pray for me,” he added. “Thank you for this closeness, and for the prayers of comfort I have received from all over the world.”

A woman lays a rosary near candles adorned with pictures of Pope Francis outside Gemelli hospital (Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

The Pope’s statement was likely written day’s ago in preparation for Sunday’s prayers, which he has missed due to the illness.

In a one-sentence update released separately on Sunday, the Vatican said: “The night was tranquil, the Pope rested.”

Francis, who has been the Pope since 2013, is prone to lung infections because he developed pleurisy as a young man and had part of one lung removed.

Dr Alfieri said he was highly vulnerable because of his age and general frailty, and warned sepsis caused by the infection would be “very difficult to overcome”.

“Sepsis, with his respiratory problems and his age, would be really difficult to get out of,” Dr Alfieri said on Friday, adding: “He knows he’s in danger. And he told us to relay that.”

Pope Francis is battling pneumonia in both lungs amid fears it could cause sepsis (AFP/Getty)

Doctors first diagnosed the complex viral, bacterial and fungal respiratory tract infection and then the onset of pneumonia in both lungs.

They prescribed “absolute rest” and a combination of cortisone and antibiotics, along with supplemental oxygen when he needs it.

“He is not out of danger,” said his personal physician, Dr Luigi Carbone. “So like all fragile patients I say they are always on the golden scale: In other words, it takes very little to become unbalanced.”

Last week, some of Francis’s cardinals suggested the Pope could step down if he become too unwell to carry on. Francis has said he would consider it, after Pope Benedict XVI “opened the door” to popes retiring

“Everything is possible,” said Cardinal Jean-Marc Aveline, the archbishop of Marseille, France. Another cardinal, Gianfranco Ravasi, was asked if Francis might decide to follow in the footsteps of Pope Benedict XVI and step down if he becomes too ill.

“There is no question that if Francis was in a situation where his ability to have direct contact with people as he likes to do was compromised, then I think he might decide to resign,” Mr Ravasi said.