The 88-year-old Argentinean pontiff had been suffering from a respiratory infection after a weeklong bout of bronchitis worsened and was admitted to Rome’s Gemelli hospital on Feb. 14. The Vatican has since described his condition as ‘critical’ and that his blood tests had shown a ‘mild renal insufficiency’ in his kidney function, which it said to be under control.
According to the Vatican, blood tests also revealed thrombocytopenia, associated with anemia, which required the pope to receive blood transfusions and he has been receiving high-flow oxygen since experiencing an “asthma-like respiratory crisis of prolonged intensity” Saturday morning.
The 266th pontiff of the Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City since 2013 endured severe pneumonia in his youth and had part of one lung removed. He uses a wheelchair, walker or cane to aid in walking because of reportedly bad knees and sciatica nerve pain and, more recently, he’s suffered two falls.
Concerns over Pope Francis‘ health have mounted in recent years as have questions about his succession.
Here’s what we know about who the next pope might be after Pope Francis.
Who is Pope Francis?
Pope Francis is the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State since March 13, 2013. He is the first pope from the Society of Jesus, the first from Argentina and the Americas.
Pope Francis was elected to the papacy at the age of 76, following the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI in 2013.
Born ‘Jorge Mario Bergoglio’ in Buenos Aires on Dec. 17, 1936, the Pope worked as a bouncer and janitor before becoming a chemist and eventually inspired to join the Jesuits in 1958. He was ordained a Catholic priest in 1969 and became archbishop in 1998. In 2001 Pope John Paul II made him a cardinal.
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Who will be the next pope? Pope Francis remains in critical condition. Here’s what to know
Maria Francis USA TODAY NETWORK
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Pope Francis remains in the hospital battling double pneumonia and the onset of slight kidney failure, in ‘critical condition’ but alert, the Vatican said on Monday.
The 88-year-old Argentinean pontiff had been suffering from a respiratory infection after a weeklong bout of bronchitis worsened and was admitted to Rome’s Gemelli hospital on Feb. 14. The Vatican has since described his condition as ‘critical’ and that his blood tests had shown a ‘mild renal insufficiency’ in his kidney function, which it said to be under control.
According to the Vatican, blood tests also revealed thrombocytopenia, associated with anemia, which required the pope to receive blood transfusions and he has been receiving high-flow oxygen since experiencing an “asthma-like respiratory crisis of prolonged intensity” Saturday morning.
The 266th pontiff of the Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City since 2013 endured severe pneumonia in his youth and had part of one lung removed. He uses a wheelchair, walker or cane to aid in walking because of reportedly bad knees and sciatica nerve pain and, more recently, he’s suffered two falls.
Concerns over Pope Francis‘ health have mounted in recent years as have questions about his succession.
Here’s what we know about who the next pope might be after Pope Francis.
Who is Pope Francis?
Pope Francis is the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State since March 13, 2013. He is the first pope from the Society of Jesus, the first from Argentina and the Americas.
Pope Francis was elected to the papacy at the age of 76, following the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI in 2013.
Born ‘Jorge Mario Bergoglio’ in Buenos Aires on Dec. 17, 1936, the Pope worked as a bouncer and janitor before becoming a chemist and eventually inspired to join the Jesuits in 1958. He was ordained a Catholic priest in 1969 and became archbishop in 1998. In 2001 Pope John Paul II made him a cardinal.
View |60 Photos
Pope Francis: head of the Catholic Church in photosPope Francis became the head of the Catholic Church in March 2013. He has been an outspoken advocate for reforms and a more inclusive church.
Who will be the next pope?
If and when Pope Francis is no longer able to continue or fulfill his papal duties, the selection of a new pontiff would ensue via the traditional conclave process.
Pope Francis extended the term of the Italian cardinal Giovanni Battista Re on Feb. 6, as dean of the College of Cardinals, a role that will oversee some preparations for a potential conclave — a secretive gathering of cardinals from around the world that would gather in the Vatican City to cast their votes in the Sistine Chapel — that determines the selection of a new pope.
While no clear successor has been named, any baptized Roman Catholic male is technically eligible to be elected pope, albeit traditionally, the pope has been chosen from the College of Cardinals since 1378, according to Religion News Service.
Speculation over some of the more prominent cardinals in line for the pontiff include Cardinals Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s secretary of state; Peter Turkson, of Ghana, who served as president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace; and Luis Tagle, prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples since December 2019 and former archbishop of Manila. Some other possible considerations include Cardinals Matteo Zuppi, Gerhard Müller, Angelo Scola, Angelo Bagnasco, Raymond Burke, Robert Sarah, and Malcolm Ranjith.
Edward Pentin, the National Catholic Register’s longtime senior Rome correspondent, released a book in August 2020 called “The Next Pope: The Leading Cardinal Candidates.” In it, he lists 19 cardinals that he considers frontrunners, including some American candidates such as Cardinal Seán Patrick O’Malley, former archbishop of Boston or Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke, who was previously archbishop of St. Louis, Missouri.
ENDTIME PRAYER RADIO AND TRIPLE K. MEDIA, BELONGS TO BISHOP DR. PETER ABABIO AND REV. SABINA NSIAH ABABIO.. 
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