DESPITE HIS hospitalisation, Pope Francis is still trying to work.

On Friday, he was admitted to Rome’s Gemelli hospital with bronchitis, which has since developed into pneumonia in both lungs.

This has sparked widespread alarm given he had part of his right lung cut away when he was 21, after developing pleurisy that almost killed him.

Despite being in hospital, Francis continues to work. 

He spent 20 minutes with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni yesterday, has been in contact with the only Catholic parish in Gaza, and “went about his work with his closest collaborators” this morning. 

Perhaps Francis should have been taking it easier in recent weeks – despite admitting he was ill, the 88-year-old was working as normal until the last minute, even presiding over an outdoor mass in a cold wind in the days before his hospitalisation.

And as of last week, Francis was weighing in on US politics and hitting out against the “major crisis” of US president Donald Trump’s deportation plans.

He also explicitly rejected vice president JD Vance’s attempts to use Catholic theology to justify the administration’s crackdown on immigration.

While Francis has a strong work ethic, he has said in the past that he wants to keep doctors at arm’s length.

“The doctor and I are both better off when we are in our own homes,” he joked in an interview published in 2021.

The pope is understood to have initially resisted going to hospital but was told that he risked dying if he disobeyed doctor’s orders.

Candles with pictures of Pope Francis seen under the statue of late Pope John Paul II, outside the Gemelli hospital in Rome Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

He has been in a wheelchair since 2022, but said that he doesn’t want surgery on his knee, quipping that a good painkiller would be a shot of tequila.

Francis has refused to cut down a packed schedule despite his advancing age and a couple of recent falls and in September 2024, he completed a four-nation Asia-Pacific tour, the longest of his papacy by duration and distance.

To some, they are the actions of a man keen to cement his legacy and ensure that the pastoral stance taken up during his papacy is passed on to his successor.

Conclave

One way in which Francis has sought to tip the scales in his favour is with the appointment of 21 new Cardinals in October.

One of the people elected to the College of Cardinals by Francis was Father Timothy Radcliffe.

Radcliffe has often publicly challenged the Catholic Church’s teaching on LGBTQ+ issues and publicly raised the issue during the first phase of the Church’s historic Synod in 2023.

With these additions, Francis will have created 110 of the 140 cardinals who are aged under 80 and thus eligible to vote in a conclave.

This figure of 140 voting cardinals would be a record high for a conclave.

Pope Francis presides over Mass in St. Peter's Basilica on 8 Dec., 2024, with the 21 new cardinals. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

And in what is viewed by many as a further move to cement his legacy during a potential conclave, Francis extended the term of the Italian cardinal Giovanni Battista Re as dean of the College of Cardinals.

An election was due to be held to appoint a new dean, but Francis delayed this election on 6 February, little over a week before his hospitalisation.

The dean of the College of Cardinals presides over the daily meetings of the College of Cardinals in advance of the conclave, as well as being the public face of the Vatican until a new pope is elected.

Aged 91, Cardinal Re is unable himself to participate in the conclave but will have a key role in organising it.

“The run-up to the conclave is more important as that’s where lobbying goes on,” one Vatican source told Politico.

Women in the Church

Pope Francis has also ushered in an era of greater participation among women in the Church.

According to Vatican News, from 2013 to 2023, the percentage of women working at the Vatican rose from 19.2% to 23.4%.

And last month, Francis appointed Sister Simona Brambilla to the head of a Vatican office that oversees religious orders for men and women.

File image of Sister Simona Brambilla Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

In doing so, Sister Brambilla becomes the first woman to reach the top position of a papal office and she is head of a department that includes some 128,500 priests, more than a quarter of the world’s total.

The number of women in religious orders equalled 599,228 in 2022. 

However, Cardinal Angel Fernandez Artime was appointed as a co-leader to this department, which some view as diluting Sister Brambilla’s role.

“It’s definitely a positive shift at the Vatican,” Kate McElwee, the executive director of Women’s Ordination Conference, told The New York Times.

But she added that the appointment of a co-leader “just proves that there’s still some kinks to work out and hoops that women have to go through to assume these positions at the Vatican”.

Elsewhere, Francis recently concluded a historic Synod within the Church.

The Synod assists the Pope with its counsel and “consider questions pertaining to the activity of the Church in the world” and for the first time, women and laypeople had a vote in the assembly.

While the majority of the 368 voting members of last year’s Synod were bishops, 70 were non-bishop members and 54 of these were women.

Pope Francis attends the Second Session of the Synod of Bishops at the Paul VI audience hall in The Vatican. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

While the first phase of the Synod addressed issues such as the place of LGBTQ+ people within the Church and whether women should be ordained, these topics have since been sent out to study groups to consider. 

These groups are due to report back next June, meaning any decision won’t be taken until then. 

However, last October the group looking at whether women should be ordained said that while the study remains open, “based on the analysis conducted so far… there is still no room for a positive decision regarding the access of women to the diaconate”.

The Synod revealed the tensions that exist within the Church, between progressives who urge Francis to take stronger action, and conservatives who fear conforming with secular standards.

Addressing the first phase of the Synod, Father Timothy Radcliffe, who has often publicly challenged the Church’s teaching on LGBTQ+ issues, remarked: “Often people have told me: ‘This Synod will not change anything.’

“Some say this with hope, and some say it with fear.”