Pope's doctors faced agonising decision on whether to 'let him go'

The pope came so close to death while in hospital that doctors had to choose whether "to let him go, or push forward", the head of his medical team said yesterday.

- Angela Giuffrida

Francis, 88, spent more than five weeks at Rome's Gemelli hospital, where he was treated for pneumonia in both lungs before being discharged on Sunday. He suffered four breathing crises during his stay, the most critical being on 28 February, when he inhaled his vomit.

"We were all aware that the situation had further worsened and there was a risk that he would not make it," said Sergio Alfieri, a surgeon at Gemelli hospital, in an interview with Corriere della Sera.