He is obviously being kept on living by drugs and machines. What is it with his faith in his god that he wants to cling to this world at all costs?
Saw the pictures of him wired up and thought āPope on a rope!ā
What difference does it make and why would you he is cling to live. You donāt know the man, you have no access to information on himā¦ why do you feel the need to think badly of him? what difference will it make to your life? Talk about an old gossip.
5 Likes
Just like everyone has a right to a do not resuscitate, people should have the right to extend their life pending some hopeful recovery. (I mean in this case, the guy has cause to think someone will help him pull through)
And it is not like the private Vatican doctors are a resource that is being pulled from an Italian hospital that could have saved someone else
2 Likes
Heās not being kept alive by machines. Heās on oxygen not a ventilator. Itās not like heās brain dead. Heās trying to recover from pneumonia.
3 Likes
Heās doing what pretty much everyone else would do in his position, heās using the resources available to him to help him recover from a serious illness.
2 Likes
Survival instinct? Everyone is different, some people have more others less.
Hes 88. Let the guy go. Today they were sticking tubes into his lungs after he had two respiratory failures.
2 Likes
Maybe. Also, it may just be the medical team protecting their backs.
AFAIK Italy has some interesting laws about liability when people dies. I wouldnāt want to be the doc that did not do enough and a criminal investigation starts for alleged malpractice.
PS, if the Pope did not leave a written statement of consented and denied treatment, docs have to use every tool in their bag.
In the UK, the patient can agree to a DNR (do not resuscitate) clause if they are in hospital with a serious problem.
You can obviously refuse it and if you do, the doctors are under obligation to do what they can to preserve life. They canāt just switch off any machines so they can go and watch the football.
Being the Pope, and all, perhaps they should let God decide? That would test their mettle, right?
This.
Also my doctor told me that if an ambulance is called, they will do anything possible anyway even if you had ādo not resuscitateā tattooed. It could be outdated, so the advance healthcare directive wonāt be considered until youāre in hospital.
An other thing in this case would be: Can a pope declare ālet me dieā? Arenāt catholics supposed to stay alive/bear anything no matter what in order to enter heaven? Life is a vale of tears.
ps if you do have a patient decree it is also good to resign it regularly, like āstill validā, date, signature. So I was told.
Yes, God will be decide, all we can do is bet on his/her/its decision:
When reports emerged over the weekend that Pope Francis had been hospitalized in critical condition, thousands of people gathered at the Vaticanās St. Peterās Square to pray.
The mood was a bit different on peer-to-peer betting website Polymarket, where bettors have pegged the odds of a new pope before 2026 at 58% (as of 10:00 a.m. US East Coast time on Friday). The siteās available bets include not only the likelihood of a new pope, but which country the next pope will come from and [who exactly it might be. Wagers on āNew Pope in 2025?ā have generated just over $354,000 on Polymarket as of Friday morning.
Sadly, the cool Pope is goingā¦I really hope heāll get better soon, and if that is not possible anymore, he would pass away peacefullyā¦ 
1 Like