His phone rang at 5.30 a.m. Now the personal physician talks about Pope Francis' final hours
At 5.30 a.m., Pope Francis' personal physician is called to the residence. Hours later, the 88-year-old is dead. Now the personal physician talks about his last hours.
24.04.2025, 09:13
24.04.2025, 16:54
SDA
According to his personal physician, Pope Francis decided in the weeks before his death that he did not want artificial respiration.
"During his last stay in hospital, he expressly asked that he not be intubated under any circumstances," reported surgery professor Sergio Alfieri to the daily newspaper "La Repubblica" (Thursday). He had already asked for this during an earlier hospital stay in 2021 "to avoid a hopeless therapy in the event of an emergency".
Intubation is the insertion of a tube into the windpipe through which a patient is then artificially ventilated. Alfieri treated the head of the Catholic Church as chief physician during his 38-day stay at the Gemelli Hospital in Rome this spring.
The last hours before death
Due to his pneumonia, Francis was supplied with oxygen via a tube through his nose and at times a breathing mask on his face, but was not intubated. He also had cannulas in his nose until shortly before his death. The Argentinian died on Easter Monday at the age of 88 as a result of a stroke in his residence in the Vatican, Casa Santa Marta. His body is currently lying in state in St. Peter's Basilica.
In the interview, Alfieri also reported on the Pope's very last hours on Monday. "At 5 a.m., the Holy Father woke up to drink a glass of water. He rolled onto his side and the nurse noticed that something was wrong," the doctor said.
"He was struggling to react. The Vatican doctor on duty for resuscitation was called. They called me around 5:30 a.m. and I was on the scene within fifteen minutes. I found him with oxygen and an infusion."
Doctor: Pope died "at home" as desired
He then listened to his lungs. "It was clean, without rales. His eyes were open. But he responded neither to questions nor to the pain of pinching. He was already in a coma. His pulse slowed and his breathing became shallower and shallower." They briefly considered transferring Francis to hospital again. "But he would have died during the transport." Death was then officially confirmed at 7.35 am.
The doctor said that the Pope's life had ended "without pain and at home", as Francis had probably wished. "In the Gemelli, he didn't say: "I want to go back to Santa Marta." He said: "I want to go home"."
About the stroke that ultimately killed Francis, the doctor said: "It was one of those strokes that take you away within an hour. (...) Perhaps a blood clot formed and blocked a blood vessel in the brain. Maybe there was also a hemorrhage. It can happen to anyone. But older people are more at risk - especially if they don't get much exercise."
