GOOD LORD

Pope Got So Close to Death’s Door That Doctors Almost Let Him Go

The 88-year-old pontiff nearly lost his battle with pneumonia.

Pope Francis came so close to entering the pearly gates during his bout of pneumonia that his doctors thought about pulling the plug on his treatments. The pontiff’s medical team said they saw the 88-year-old teetering on the brink of death and debated whether to continue his care or let him die in peace. He almost met the big guy upstairs on Feb. 28, they said, when he suffered through a breathing crisis that involved him nearly choking on his own vomit, and there “was a real risk he might not make it,” said Sergio Alfieri, a physician at Rome’s Gemelli hospital. The team discussed whether to “let him go” or “go forward and push it with all the drugs and therapies possible, running the highest risk of damaging his other organs.” Either from the wonders of Western medicine or global prayers, Francis managed to pull through and returned to the Vatican Sunday after the closest call in his 12-year papacy. The doctors saw him leaving his room dressed all in white, once again resuming his role as Bishop of Rome.