Pope Francis, 88, suffered a bronchial spasm Friday causing him to inhale vomit and be placed on a respirator, the Vatican said.
The news is a major set back in his two-week long battle against double pneumonia.
The pope responded positively, maintaining a healthy level of oxygen and staying conscious and alert throughout.
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It comes after two consecutive days of more optimistic reports from the doctors treating the pope at Rome’s Gemelli hospital, where he has been since February 14.
The Vatican has already made a back-up plan for Ash Wednesday next week. A Vatican official and former vicar of Rome, Cardinal Angelo De Donatis, will preside over the March 5 ceremony. He will also oversee the procession that marks the start of the church’s solemn Lent season leading up to Easter in April.
The Vatican has also canceled a Holy Year audience that was set for Saturday.
In previous years, when Francis faced bronchitis and influenza during the winter, he limited his involvement in Ash Wednesday and Holy Week activities. These events require the pope to be outdoors in the cold, leading services, joining processions, and overseeing prayers.
The pope spent the earlier hours of Friday morning alternating high flows of supplemental oxygen with a mask and praying in the chapel. He ate breakfast, read the daily newspaper and received respiratory physiotherapy the Vatican reported.
Doctors stopped calling his condition “critical” in their statements, a term that hasn’t been used for three days.
Meanwhile, prayers for the pope’s return to good health have been pouring in from across the globe. On Thursday night, several dozen people gathered at the cathedral in Mexico City to pray for Francis’ recovery.
