Pope Francis remained in critical but stable condition Tuesday, with his blood parameters remaining stable as he works from the hospital while battling double pneumonia, the Vatican said.
The Vatican’s evening update said the 88-year-old pope underwent a follow-up CAT scan in Tuesday evening to check the lung infection. But it provided no details of what the scan showed, suggesting the results weren’t back yet. Doctors said regardless he hadn’t had any further respiratory crises, and that his prognosis remained guarded.
“In the morning, after receiving the Eucharist, he resumed work activities,” the Vatican statement said.
Earlier Tuesday, the Vatican had said that the pope was well enough to meet with the Vatican secretary of state to approve new decrees for possible saints. That suggested he is getting essential work done and looking ahead despite being hospitalized in critical condition.
The audience, which occurred Monday, signaled that the machinery of the Vatican is still grinding on even though doctors have warned that the prognosis for the 88-year-old Francis is guarded.
The Vatican’s Tuesday noon bulletin contained a series of significant decisions, most importantly that Francis had met with Cardinal Pietro Parolin and Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra, the Vatican “substitute” or chief of staff. It was the first known time the pope had met with Parolin, who is essentially the Vatican prime minister, since his Feb. 14 hospitalization.