Pope Francis To Extend Hospitalization Over 'Complex Clinical Picture,' Vatican Says

Pope Francis will continue to be hospitalized after his health situation deteriorated over the weekend. The pontiff, who entered the facility on Friday over a bronchitis that worsened over a week, is facing a "complex clinical picture" that will require him to stay indefinitely, said Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni.

The official detailed that the pope is suffering from a "polymicrobial respiratory tract infection" and that the complexity of his symptoms will require an "appropriate hospital stay." He added that he ate breakfast on Monday and read newspapers after a third peaceful night.

"I would have liked to be among you, but as you know I'm here at the Policlínico Gemelli because I still need some treatment for my bronchitis," said Francis in a written statement for the Angelus prayer, which he didn't attend.

The hospitalization is already longer than a severe pneumonia that required him to receive care for three days. The disease was only acknowledged after officials detailed the pope was admitted urgently after feeling faint and suffering from sharp pains in his chest.

Francis' next schedule appointment is his general audience on Wednesdays. It is unclear whether he will be able to attend as the latest update cancelled events through Monday.

The Pope has made the headlines in the U.S. recently for criticizing President Donald Trump's immigration policies. "What is built on the basis of force, and not on the truth about the equal dignity of every human being, begins badly and will end badly," the Pope wrote in an X post last Tuesday with a link to a longer letter.

In the letter, Pope Francis called upon "all the Christian faithful and people of good will" to put peoples' dignity and fundamental rights ahead of legitimizing and creating public policies that threaten them. He then stated he has been following closely "the major crisis" taking place in regard to the Trump administration's mass deportations.

"That said, the act of deporting people who in many cases have left their own land for reasons of extreme poverty, insecurity, exploitation, persecution or serious deterioration of the environment, damages the dignity of many men and women, and of entire families, and places them in a state of particular vulnerability and defenselessness," he wrote.

The Pope then reiterated that the poorest and most marginalized people deserve to be treated with as much dignity as the people with the most power.

Pope Francis urged "all the faithful of the Catholic Church, and all men and women of good will, not to give in to narratives that discriminate against and cause unnecessary suffering to our migrant and refugee brothers and sisters."