Many who know him said that Francis, driven by a sense of mission and a discipline born of his early training, essentially worked himself into the hospital.

Pope Francis is in “critical condition,” the Vatican said Saturday, after a “prolonged asthmatic crisis” and a low platelet count. They said he was alert and sitting in an armchair but suffering more pain than the day before.

Pope Francis remains in critical condition after suffering a respiratory crisis in the morning. He needs a blood transfusion and his prognosis remains cautious, Vatican News reports. Today, February 22,