Pope Francis’ Medical Team Wanted to Stop His Treatment, Let Him ‘Die in Peace’

Pope Francis’ medical team revealed that his health condition had deteriorated to a critical point, prompting consideration of withholding further treatment to allow for a peaceful passing.

Francis’ medical team said that the pontiff almost choked on his vomit on February 28, when he suffered a respiratory crisis.

“There was a real risk he might not make it,” Sergio Alfieri, a doctor at Rome’s Gemelli hospital, told news agency Reuters.

The 88-year-old made his first public appearance on Sunday (Mar 23) from the hospital balcony before being discharged to bless the crowd since being admitted on February 14.

“Thank you, everyone,” he said into a microphone while sitting in a wheelchair, waving to hundreds gathered to see him and giving a thumbs-up sign.

“I can see that woman with yellow flowers, well done,” Francis said smiling to the joyed crowd in his brief appearance.

Francis was discharged minutes after his appearance and was seen leaving the hospital in a car. He was seen wearing a cannula, a tube tucked into his nostrils to deliver oxygen. He has reached the Vatican to convalesce after the hospital stay.

Dr Alfieri, who was one of the physicians in charge of caring for the pontiff, said that the 88-year-old had “two very critical episodes” during which his “life was in danger, ” according to the BBC.

He said that Francis was never ventilated and that he always stayed conscious and tried to engage.

According to the doctors, the Pope will resume work as soon as possible despite the fact that he is not yet fully recovered from pneumonia.

“We had to choose if we would stop there and let him go, or to go forward and push it with all the drugs and therapies possible, running the highest risk of damaging his other organs,” Alfieri said in an interview with Italy’s Corriere della Sera.

“In the end, we took this path,” the doctor added.

(With inputs from agencies)