The pope is in critical condition. What you need to know

The health condition of 88-year-old Pope Francis, who was hospitalized with a respiratory tract infection on February 14, has deteriorated and is assessed as critical. He suffered an exacerbation of bronchial asthma, also underwent a blood transfusion procedure amid the threat of anemia. Later it became known that in extreme case he may abdicate. What is remembered Pope Francis and who can become his successor, "Izvestia" analyzed.

The way to the Vatican

- Pope Francis before his election was called Jorge Mario Bergoglio. He was born in 1936 in Buenos Aires in a family of Italian immigrants. He graduated from high school as a chemical technician. After that, he got the idea of becoming a Jesuit priest. It's an ancient church order. Its members are engaged in missionary and Christian-educational activities.

- At the age of 22, he entered the novitiate - a period of novitiate, testing entering the monastic order. Already two years later, Bergoglio took his first Jesuit vows. He then earned a licentiate degree in philosophy and taught literature and psychology. Continuing his studies, he earned a doctorate in theology from St. Joseph's College in Buenos Aires.

- In 1992, he was consecrated a bishop by the Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Cardinal Antonio Quarracino. When the latter died, Bergoglio took his place. Despite his high ecclesiastical office, he continued to live in a modest apartment and used public transportation.

- In 2001, he was honored with the title of cardinal, and 12 years later, at the age of 76, Francis was elected the 266th pope. He became the first Jesuit and the first Latin American to lead the Catholic Church. Before him, Benedict XVI (Joseph Alois Ratzinger) was on the Roman throne.

Views on life

- Bergoglio was supported by both conservatives and reformers of the church. This is because he had fairly orthodox views on sexual matters, but held liberal ideas on social issues. His supporters helped Francis' aspirations to renew the Vatican bureaucracy in every way possible. He has also sought to crack down on corruption at the Vatican Bank and to resolve the fallout from the high-profile child sex abuse scandal in the Catholic Church.

- During the first seven years of his pontificate, Francis visited more than 45 countries. Among them, he traveled to Brazil in 2013 for World Youth Day. Some 3 million pilgrims gathered on Copacabana Beach for his Mass.

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Uniting the World

- In 2014, he made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Francis became the first pope in history to visit the Arabian Peninsula. In February 2019 in Abu Dhabi, he signed a joint statement on human brotherhood with Ahmed el-Tayeb, the Grand Imam of al-Azhar, which formed the basis for future Vatican interreligious initiatives. That same month, he held a summit at the Vatican to discuss the crisis of sexual violence and the protection of minors and vulnerable adults.

- The pontiff has met Russian President Vladimir Putin three times at the Vatican - in 2013, 2015 and 2019. In February 2016, the Pope met with Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia at Havana airport, marking the first-ever meeting between the heads of the Catholic and Russian Orthodox Churches.

- The Pontiff criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's law banning the activities of religious organizations affiliated with the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) in Ukraine. He emphasized that prayer is not a crime and anyone who wishes to pray should be allowed to do so in the church they consider their own.

- Francis regularly calls for peace and dialog between the parties to the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East in his services. For example, he has called on Russia and Ukraine to exchange all prisoners of war and Hamas to release all Israeli hostages. In his Christmas message to "Grad and Peace" last December, he expressed hope that it would be possible to open the door to negotiations on Ukraine.

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Health status

- The pontiff is prone to lung infections. As early as his early 20s, he developed pleurisy and had part of one lung removed. In recent years, the pope has been bothered by health problems, including regular bouts of flu, lumbosacral nerve pain and an abdominal hernia that required surgery in 2023.

- On February 14, Francis was hospitalized with bronchitis, and on February 18 it became known that the pontiff had been diagnosed with bilateral pneumonia. The clinical picture is regarded as complex.

The next pope

- Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi has not ruled out Francis abdicating if for health reasons he is unable to cope with his duties, as his predecessor Benedict XVI did. However, the cardinal said Francis would want to bring to a close the Roman Catholic Church's Jubilee Year of Christianity, celebrated this year, which is dedicated to hope.

- Although the papal tiara is invariably worn by one of 253 cardinals from around the world, technically any male Catholic can be elected to succeed St. Peter. After the death or resignation of a pope, a conclave of cardinals meets in the Sistine Chapel to vote for the next head of the Catholic Church. Moreover, only 138 of the 253 cardinals can be electors at the next conclave, and no cardinal over the age of 80 can vote.

- Several prominent cardinals may be considered as Francis' successors, among them Vatican Secretary of State Pietro Parolina. He is considered a political moderate: he has worked in the diplomatic wing of the Holy See, as well as in the nunciatures in Nigeria and Mexico. He was ordained a cardinal in 2014 by Pope Francis and is seen as continuing his legacy.

- Another contender is Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo Besungu of the Democratic Republic of Congo. He, as president of the symposium of the Bishops' Conferences of Africa and Madagascar, declared the doctrine of Fiducia supplicans (it allows priests to bless unmarried and same-sex couples) invalid on the African continent. Bezungu's papacy will thus be seen as a sharp rebuke to Pope Francis' leftist principles.

- Also among the possible successors is a former physician, Cardinal Willem Jacobus Eijk of the Netherlands. In 2015, he helped write "Eleven Cardinals Speak on Marriage and the Family: an essay from a pastoral perspective," in which he strongly opposed Francis' support for civil remarriage if the church did not annul the first marriage. Eick wrote that they are "a form of structured and institutionalized adultery." The cardinal also criticized the current pope's failure to fight a proposal by the German Bishops' Conference that allowed Protestants to receive the Eucharist in Catholic churches.

- In addition, Peter Erde of Hungary, the former president of the Council of European Bishops' Conferences, could take over the post. He has long been an influential figure in the politics of the modern church. A conservative, Erde has previously opposed the practice of communion for divorced or remarried Catholics because of his doctrinal belief in the indissolubility of marriage. He has also been outspoken about his opposition to the admission of refugees by European countries, saying it amounts to human trafficking.

- With such different candidates for the papacy, a powerful political battle along ideological and territorial lines is expected.