Doctors taking care of Pope Francis considered ending their treatment at one point as there “was a risk that he would not make it,” a report said. 

Gemelli Hospital medical director Dr. Sergio Alfieri recounted the scenes on Feb. 28 when the 88-year-old suffered a coughing fit and inhaled vomit, prompting staff to have to aspirate to clear his airways and later put on a non-invasive mechanical ventilation mask to help him breathe.

“For the first time I saw tears in the eyes of some of the people around him. People who, I understood during this period of hospitalization, sincerely love him, like a father. We were all aware that the situation had worsened further and there was a risk that he would not make it,” Alfieri told the Corriere della Sera newspaper in an interview published Tuesday. 

“We had to choose whether to stop and let him go or force it and try with all the drugs and therapies possible, running the very high risk of damaging other organs. And in the end we took this path,” he reportedly added. 

Luigi Carbone, left, head physician of the Vatican’s Health and Hygiene Office, and surgeon Sergio Alfieri speak to journalists, on Saturday, March 22, 2025, at Rome’s Agostino Gemelli Polyclinic. (AP/Gregorio Borgia)

“Even when [Francis’] condition worsened he was fully conscious. That evening was terrible, he knew, like us, that he might not survive the night,” Alfieri also told Corriere della Sera. “We saw the man who was suffering. But from day one he asked us to tell him the truth and he wanted us to tell the truth about his condition.” 

Francis eventually was discharged from the hospital in Rome on Sunday. 

Pope Francis leaves in a car after appearing at a window of the Agostino Gemelli Polyclinic in Rome, Sunday, March 23, 2025. (AP/Stefano Costantino)

A papal spokesman said Tuesday that Francis is very happy to be back home and his breathing and movement therapy is ongoing.