This whole papacy has been one long mixed message/ obfuscation. So I guess it will be that way to the end.
@RaymondArroyo BREAKING FRIDAY: Pope Francis has a “sudden worsening condition”. He has been placed on mechanical ventilation. From the Holy See Press Office: “The Holy Father this afternoon, after a morning spent alternating respiratory physiotherapy with prayer in the chapel, presented an isolated attack of bronchospasm which, however, this resulted in an episode of vomiting with inhalation and a sudden worsening of the respiratory condition. The Holy Father was promptly bronchoaspirated and began non-invasive mechanical ventilation, with a good response on gas exchange. The Holy Father remained alert and oriented at all times, collaborating in the therapeutic maneuvers. The prognosis therefore remains reserved. He received Holy Communion this morning.”
Raymond just posted the following. Much better that "mechanical ventilation". @RaymondArroyo For the clarity of those asking: The pope is on a mask ventilator. “Non invasive” assisted breathing.
An important distinction. It appears he aspirated as well. But looks like the episode has passed at least for now. I can’t imagine the suffering he is enduring. When you cannot breathe well it is so scary. My lung collapsed after my accident and it’s just an awful feeling not fully catching your breath. praying for the Pope
I don’t like how the Vatican is playing verbal gymnastics with this. They’re projecting the image that this is simply a face mask. While it’s not traditional intubation, a mask ventilator is still a form of intubation. An episode of aspiration of bile followed by bronchial aspiration and mask intubation, on top of double pneumonia in a patient with a history of a partial lung resection, is a grave complication.
Cardinal Parolin is leading the Rosary from the Vatican each day for Pope Francis. EWTN is televising it live and it is very beautiful. It is evening in Rome and I was able to tune in at 3pm EST. The Rosary is in Italian with a commentator in English. Some of the prayers are in Latin as well.
Maybe the question I'm about to ask has a pretty obvious answer for most people, but... if he aspirated his own vomit, is a procedure needed to clean his lungs?
I’m not a doctor but based on recent experience, if you can’t cough it out, then I think you need suctioning or bronchoscopy.
Yes, the Vatican statement says he underwent a bronchial aspiration to clean his airways. I just talked to a nurse anesthetist. She said mask ventilators are only used for short minor surgical procedures: You can't give positive pressure ventilation through an LMA. I put them in as part of my job. There are some people in Europe, who will use an LMA for a general anesthetic and use some positive pressure ventilation, but that would be for a short OR case like an appendectomy. Not for someone in critical condition who needs to be sustained on a mechanical ventilator as means of life support. So I was wrong, it’s not likely that’s what was used in this situation. She also said it’s probably high pressure O2 via a regular mask: The … thing you sent that said noninvasive assisted breathing to me, would mean BiPAP, or CPAP, via a mask.
Have you read the agreement? I didn't know that it had been published. My understanding is (and I could be mistaken) that the Chinese government submits names of candidates and the Vatican chooses one of them. It's certainly not a good arrangement but it's not unprecedented in Church history. The Holy See will need to dissuade the Chinese government from any suspicions it has that the Catholic Church is an agent of Western powers seeking to destabilise China. Good diplomatic relations and the Holy Spirit can bring an improvement. If there's no improvement, the Church can go underground and appoint Bishops without informing the government (for all we know, they could already be consecrating Bishops of their choice unbeknownst to the government). The current situation allows the Church to function openly, bringing the message of the crucified and risen Christ to potentially millions of people who otherwise would never have been baptised. I think the Chinese government has enough on its plate to not be over-interested in the sins of the average person. People they may have a particular interest in for political reasons are likely to have a good idea of which priests to avoid. The Church has 2,ooo years' worth of experience practising in hostile situations. Maybe we should give the Holy See some credit for being smarter than us. The main difference I see now between the Chinese and Western powers is that the Chinese limit their evil beliefs to their own shores whereas the Westerners use all sorts of chicanery to promote evil as good in less powerful countries. Fatima might not go down well in China, but some of the Early Church Fathers would face deportation if not imprisonment in some Western countries. Speaking of Fatima, I came across this EWTN page quoting correspondence from Lucia and her Bishop requesting the Pope to do the consecration: https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/answers/1984-consecration-documents-14284 At the bottom of the page there's a link to an interview with a Dr. Zugibe that's also worth reading, Dr. Zugibe had a long visit with Lucia in the convent.
Yes, the Truth sets us free. But the truth about what exactly? Further up this thread, there's a post linking to a tweet from someone looking for precise details about the Pope's medical condition - details that are nobody's business but that of the Pope and the medics taking care of him. We know that old Cardinal McCarrick was a pervert. It turned out that the world and his mother knew about him but nothing was done until Pope Benedict put some restrictions on him. Pope Francis was wrong to lift the restrictions but that doesn't make Francis an anti-Pope. If it did, there have been more than a few anti-Popes in Church history whose papacy was never challenged. Archbishop Vigano knows that, so why is he using it to challenge the validity of the Francis papacy? The only answer I can come up with is a sense of grievance turned into a desire for vengeance. If that's the case, it may well be the result of people feeding his sense of grievance. I can't read his mind and I do sympathise with him but I think that he needs to get reconciled with the Church. I don't see how the experiences of St. Catherine of Sienna or Joan of Arc apply here. I do know that neither of them was disrespectful when speaking of or to their Bishops. I'm fairly confident that neither of them would have referred to Pope Francis as Bergoglio. Is the truth you are looking for some kind of confirmation that the CIA forced Pope Benedict to resign? Pope Benedict's own affirmation that his resignation was voluntary and that he accepted Francis as Pope makes any investigation pointless. Francis was elected by a Conclave and the Church, including Archbishop Vigano, accepted the result, so he's the valid Pope. That's how it works, otherwise we'd have claims and counter claims every time a Pope rubs influential people the wrong way. There has been evil lurking around and in the Church since Judas. I see people blaming Vatican 11 for the great falling away in Western countries. I think the most common term used by defenders of Vatican 11 is that correlation is not causation. I merely pointed out another correlation. Is that causation? Prior to the fall of the Soviet Union, I would say no. I would put it down mostly to the failure of successive Popes to properly consecrate Russia and promote the five first Saturdays. After the fall of the Soviet Union, especially with regard to the spread of anti-life, anti-marriage and anti-family ideologies in hitherto socially conservative Christian, especially Catholic, countries, I would say yes. That's not the fault of the average American and those of us living in post-Christian countries will have a lot to answer for on Judgement Day when we see the ripple effects of our own sinful deeds and omissions. I do believe, however, that there's no excuse in this time of widely available alternative media, for the average American's apparent complacency regarding their country's active participation in genocide. There are posts from Catholics on this forum saying "why don't they move" when the Palestinians were being slaughtered in Gaza. And to this day I suspect that some of them silently excuse or even support it out of some weird delusion that it's un-American or un-Christian to not unreservedly support Zionism, and that bombing people in tents is saving the world from Islam or Communism. I've no doubt that the CIA and their counterparts in other countries spy on the Magisterium, probably have assets in strategic positions as well as all sorts of dirt on influential clergy but that's nothing new and there's zero chance of any government releasing such information unless and until it serves their interests. So, is Vigano relying on this man to save the Church? Believe me when I tell you that I've been a lot more suspicious than you about Pope Francis except that I wasn't nearly as reasonable or articulate as you. I had to stop myself because it was harming my own faith. Now, I do what others advised back then - advice I dismissed. I trust that the Holy Spirit is protecting the Church. My opinion of Pope Francis has also softened a lot over time. Now I think that he's not a great Pope but that his heart is in the right place. If he is dying, I hope and pray that he won't suffer and that Our Lady whom he seems devoted to will come to his aid as he draws his last breath.
