There is a first time for everything.
But the expression “plentiful secretion” in an official update of the Vatican Pope Francis? This level of detail may even be surprising for those who do not know how taboo it was considered to openly discuss the health of a Pope.
As the leader of the 1.4 billion Catholics in the world, the Pope is a revered spiritual figure. Talking about his earthly health was profane.
“Playing down the Pope’s health problems is part of a great Vatican tradition. In Rome it is often said that the Pope is until dying and maybe even a little after good health,” said French Catholic company Lacroix International in March 2023 during another of Francis’ hospital effort.
In an update on Monday, however, the Vatican press office wrote: “Today the Holy Father presented two episodes of acute breathing insufficiency, which were caused by a larger accumulation of the endobron chic mucus and the resulting bronchospasm.
“Therefore, two bronchoscopies were carried out, whereby the need for plenty of secretary secretions was required.”
This follows weeks of similar, daily updates that the Pope has fought against double pneumonia in Rome’s Gemelli Hospital since February 14. The press office shared when the Pope had fever, how his kidneys worked and counted his white blood. It has delivered details such as the use of oxygen with a high flow and its need for blood transfusions by the Pope.
“These are very specific details that we have never had in the past,” said David Perlich, Vatican analyst from CBC, who has covered the topic for 25 years.
“I was surprised by the degree of openness and the level of detail.”
So why the change?
Dr. Samir Guppa breaks out the most recent update of the Vatican about Pope Francis’ health when he struggles with a double pneumonia.
A new transparency
The transparency is certainly new, even for Francis, from which it was assumed that he has seen health as a private matter for a long time, said Perlich.
Historically, the Vatican has much more opaque, notes the New York Times with a tendency to veil. For example, stomach cancer, the Pope John XXIII, was only unveiled long after his death in 1963.
And Pope John Paul II, whose papacy lasted from 1978 to 2005, had a visible tremor for years before the Vatican finally confirmed in 2003 that he had a Parkinson’s disease. On February 25, 2005, the morning after the operation of John Paul II because of tracheotomy, the Vatican published an explanation that he breathed and ate well, and enjoyed a breakfast with 10 biscotti. He died a little more than a month later.
“The Vatican is currently a very sensitive balance with the health information of the Pope,” said Perlich.
“On the one hand, they want to respect the privacy and the dignity of an older man who is in the hospital and is very, very sick, on the other hand it is a recognition that people, as the leader of over a billion Roman Catholic Catholic in the world and a globally famous person, are absolutely curious about the health of the pope.”
Information in the disinformation period
And if you do not publish precise information, you will receive rumors and speculations, said Perlich.
When Francis was admitted to the hospital for the first time, all types of reports – true and not – were available on Francis’ health. They had taken on their own lives in times of chat groups, conspiracy theories and internet memes – not to mention the multi -year Roman fixation of the Pope and which could fulfill him.
On February 21, the Catholic news website Crux reported that several top papal assistants struck Francis’s death or resignation and went to Italian television to assure people that “things that are said are exactly what happens”.
This transparency about his health actually gives Francis more dignity in a difficult situation, Perlich said – even on the information about his “secretion” (which suggests perlich, is really an Italian translation problem).
“There is so much more to his illness and a very sick 88-year-old man because they share the information. The cruelty of gossip and speculation is not available.”
