After a scary setback in his recovery from double pneumonia, Pope Francis was drinking coffee and reading the newspaper Saturday morning.

The fact that he was able to drink the beverage signaled the pontiff is no longer dependent on a ventilator to breathe.

On Friday afternoon, the 88-year-old pope was placed on noninvasive mechanical ventilation after a coughing fit, which the Vatican called an “isolated crisis of bronchial spasm,” that led him to inhale vomit that needed to be removed. 

Noninvasive ventilation involves administering oxygen through a mouthpiece, face or nasal mask, without intubation.

Francis, who entered Rome’s Gemelli hospital on Feb. 14., does not have a fever and is able to eat solid foods now, CNN reported.

Doctors said it will take a few days to evaluate the impact of the episode on the pope’s overall condition. His prognosis is still “guarded,” which means he is not out of danger yet, according to reports.

On Saturday morning, the Vatican shared a positive update on his condition, saying, “The night has passed quietly, the pope is resting.”

It will take a day or two to see if Friday’s episode impacted Francis’ overall clinical condition, doctors said.

During the procedure, the pope remained conscious and alert, responding well, with a good level of oxygen exchange and was continuing to wear a mask to receive supplemental oxygen, the Vatican said, according to reports.

The episode was a setback after two straight days of increasingly upbeat reports from doctors treating Francis, an Argentinian native whose birth name is Jorge Bergoglio.

Francis, who was elected pope in 2013, had part of one lung removed as a young man and was admitted after a bout of bronchitis worsened and turned into pneumonia in both lungs.

Dr. John Coleman, a pulmonary critical care doctor at Northwestern Medicine in Chicago, said the episode as relayed by the Vatican was alarming and underscored Francis’ fragility and that his condition “can turn very quickly.”

“I think this is extremely concerning, given the fact that the pope has been in the hospital now for over two weeks, and now he’s continuing to have these respiratory events and now had this aspiration event that is requiring even higher levels of support,” he told The Associated Press.

“So given his age and his fragile state and his previous lung resection, this is very concerning,” added Coleman, who is not involved in Francis’ care.

The fact that the Pope remained awake and oriented throughout the episode is a good sign, however the entire ordeal is still “worrying,” said Dr. William Feldman, a pulmonary specialist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.

“Often we will use noninvasive ventilation as a way of trying to stave off an intubation, or the use of invasive mechanical ventilation,” Feldman said.

Although he isn’t completely out of danger, doctors stopped referring to Francis being in “critical condition” for three days. 

Cardinals have been leading a nightly rosary in St. Peter’s Square for Pope Francis’s recovery and on Friday, attendees at the 2025 National Catholic Prayer Breakfast prayed for him.

At the breakfast, Vice President JD Vance spoke about the pope’s condition, saying he and his children pray for his recovery daily.

On Saturday night, Cardinal Claudio Gugerotti, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Eastern Churches, will lead the rosary for Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Square at 9:00 p.m. local time.

With Post Wires