Will Pope Francis Go to Santa Maria Maggiore?
The situation is "no cause for celebration" and it will be necessary to continue pharmacological medical therapy in a hospital environment.
Respiratory physiotherapy will continue to help Pope Francis breathe better by strengthening muscles such as the diaphragm, and active motor physiotherapy will continue to maintain muscle tone, which has inevitably decreased due to the long hospital stay. The complexity of the situation can create new dangers.
The rumour that spread in the last few hours has been confirmed, writes Specola. An apartment where Francis will be hospitalised in Santa Maria Maggiore is ready and equipped to receive him when he leaves the Gemelli hospital.
Santa Maria Maggiore is the designated place in case of resignation, and Francis has already chosen the place where he wants to be buried in the Basilica.
Going to Santa Maria Maggiore implies that Francis will not return to his activities.
Specola quotes Matteo Bassetti, director of infectious diseases at the San Martino Polyclinic in Genoa, who strongly doubts that there will be a full recovery of respiratory function.
Dario Leosco, president of the Italian Society of Gerontology and Geriatrics and full professor at the Federico II University of Naples, says of the fact that Francis is still on oxygen 24 hours a day:
"Weaning off respiratory support, even high-flow support, has to be extremely gradual. They have probably already started".
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