(LONDON and ROME) — Pope Francis remained hospitalized on Tuesday as he continues to recover from a respiratory tract infection and now the “onset of bilateral pneumonia,” the Vatican said.
“Laboratory tests, chest X-ray, and the Holy Father’s clinical condition continue to present a complex picture,” the Vatican press office said in a statement. “The polymicrobial infection, which arose on a picture of bronchiectasis and asthmatic bronchitis, and which required the use of cortisone antibiotic therapy, makes therapeutic treatment more complex.”
A follow-up chest CT scan on Tuesday “demonstrated the onset of bilateral pneumonia, which required additional drug therapy,” the Vatican said.
“Nevertheless, Pope Francis is in good spirits,” the Vatican said. “This morning, he received the Eucharist, and throughout the day he alternated rest with prayer and reading texts. He gives thanks for the closeness he feels at this time and asks, with a grateful heart, that we continue to pray for him.”
The Vatican announced earlier Tuesday that the Jubilee Audience on Saturday has been canceled as the pope continues to recover in hospital.
“Due to the Holy Father’s health condition, the Jubilee Audience on Saturday, Feb. 22, is canceled,” the Vatican said Tuesday morning. “For the celebration of the Holy Mass on the occasion of the Jubilee of Deacons, scheduled for Sunday, Feb. 23, at 9 a.m., in St. Peter’s Basilica, Pope Francis has delegated H.E. Msgr. Rino Fisichella, Pro-Prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization, Section for Fundamental Issues of Evangelization in the World.”
Matteo Bruni, the director of the Vatican press room, told reporters on Sunday that the pope had his second consecutive restful night after being admitted to the hospital on Friday.
“Pope Francis had a tranquil night. He slept well, had breakfast and read a few papers, as usual,” Bruni said.
On Saturday, the Vatican said the pope “rested all night” Friday and had no fever on Saturday morning. His treatment has been slightly modified based on further “microbiological findings,” according to the Vatican.
The Vatican added, “To facilitate his recovery, the medical staff prescribed absolute rest.”
The pope was admitted to a hospital on Friday for “necessary tests” and to continue his ongoing bronchitis treatment, the Vatican said.
ANSA, the Italian news agency, reported that “several sources” revealed the pope had arrived on Friday at Gemelli Hospital very fatigued due to difficulty in breathing related to an excess of phlegm and that the treatment he was undergoing at home had not yielded the expected results.
“Pope Francis has been informed of the many messages of closeness and affection he has received and expresses his gratitude, as well as asking for continued prayers,” the Vatican added.
(TORONTO) –As investigators work to determine what caused Delta Flight 4819 to crash and overturn at Toronto Pearson International Airport on Monday, the Toronto Pearson president and CEO noted the “extreme conditions” at the airport in the days before the dramatic incident.
Toronto Pearson President and CEO Deborah Flint said that from Thursday to Sunday there were “extreme conditions” at the airport from two separate storms.
“On Thursday and Sunday, we got more than 20 inches, 50 centimeters of accumulated snow. That is actually not typical. In fact, it is more snow within that time window than we received in all of last winter,” Flint said at a news conference Tuesday. “There were many delays and cancelations across this part of Canada and the U.S. Northeast during this time, creating numerous flight delays and backlogs.”
The crash occurred during blowing snow and strong wind gusts in the region. Winds reached 40 mph on the ground and were even stronger several hundred feet in the air.
When asked if the weather could have contribute to the crash, Flint said, “This would not be a time for us to have theory or to speculate.”
Toronto Airport Fire Chief Todd Aitken said Monday that the runway was dry and there were no crosswind conditions at the time of the crash.
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada is leading the investigation and investigators from the Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board are assisting. Investigators are expected to review the aircraft at its current position on the runway for the next two days, officials said Tuesday.
The Delta regional jet — a CRJ 900 aircraft operated by Endeavor Air — touched down, set fire, flipped over and came to a stop upside-down on the snow covered Toronto runway. The 76 passengers and four crew evacuated.
Flint on Tuesday praised the flight crew, saying they “heroically led passengers to safety.”
She said she was grateful there was no loss of life or life-threatening injuries.
Twenty-one passengers were taken to hospitals, and as of Tuesday, 19 of them have been released, according to Delta.
Injuries range from minor to critical, but non are life threatening, Flint said.
Three people suffered critical injuries: one child, a man in his 60s and a woman in her 40s, according to medical transport organization Ornge.
The flight originated in Minneapolis. There were 22 Canadian citizens among the passengers, Flint said.
The Toronto Airport temporarily stopped flights in the wake of the crash, with departures and arrivals resuming at 5 p.m. ET Monday, the airport said. Two runways remained closed, which Flint said may impact operations.
“Our most pressing priority remains taking care of all customers and Endeavor crew members who were involved,” Delta CEO Ed Bastian said. “We’ll do everything we can to support them and their families in the days ahead, and I know the hearts, thoughts and prayers of the entire Delta community are with them. We are grateful for all the first responders and medical teams who have been caring for them.”
(LONDON) — Hamas will release six more hostages on Saturday and the bodies of four deceased hostages on Thursday, Hamas and Israel confirmed.
Four more dead hostages are expected to be released next week in accordance with the ceasefire agreement, according to Israeli officials.
The hostages who will be released on Saturday have been identified as Eliya Cohen, 27; Tal Shoham, 40; Omer Shem Tov, 22; Omer Wenkrat, 23; Hisham Al-Sayed, 36; and Avera Mengistu, 39, according to Israeli officials and the Hostages and Missing Families Forum
Hamas accused Israel of procrastinating and evading engaging in the negotiations of the second phase and said it is ready to engage in negotiations to implement the terms of the second phase of the ceasefire agreement.
Last week, Hamas threatened to not release hostages over the weekend, saying Israel was not holding up its end of the ceasefire by delaying the return of displaced Palestinians to northern Gaza, targeting them with gunfire and slowing down aid and said the hostage-prisoner exchange would be postponed.
Hamas later said the exchange will take place as planned and released three hostages on Saturday. The three hostages freed from captivity were U.S. national Sagui Dekel Chen, Iair Horn and Sasha Troufanov.
In exchange for Hamas releasing three more Israeli hostages, Israel freed another 369 Palestinian prisoners on Saturday, most of whom were arrested in the Gaza Strip after the terror attack on Oct. 7, 2023.
President Donald Trump had issued a deadline last week, telling Hamas to release all remaining hostages by Saturday or he would leave it up to Israel to decide whether to violate the ceasefire and continue fighting.
(TORONTO) –Investigators probing Monday afternoon’s Delta Flight 4819 plane crash at Toronto Pearson International Airport are piecing together what caused the dramatic incident, sources told ABC News.
The Delta regional jet — a CRJ 900 aircraft operated by Endeavor Air — originated in Minneapolis. The aircraft was left lying upside-down and ablaze on the snow covered Toronto runway after the crash, with its 76 passengers and four crew evacuated, according to Delta and the Federal Aviation Administration.
Toronto Pearson President and CEO Deborah Flint confirmed there were no fatalities, commending the “heroic and trained professionals” who responded to the crash. There were 22 Canadian citizens among the passengers, Flint said.
Twenty-one passengers were taken to hospitals, and as of Tuesday morning, 19 of them have been released, according to Delta.
Peel Regional Paramedic Services said none of the injuries were considered life-threatening.
Three people suffered critical injuries: one child, a man in his 60s and a woman in her 40s, according to medical transport organization Ornge.
What caused the plane to flip and catch fire was not immediately clear. Sources told ABC News on Monday that the investigation was already underway.
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada will lead the investigation and investigators from the FAA and National Transportation Safety Board are assisting.
The Toronto Airport temporarily stopped flights in the wake of the crash, with departures and arrivals resuming at 5 p.m. ET Monday, the airport said. Two runways remained closed, which Flint said may impact operations.
“Our most pressing priority remains taking care of all customers and Endeavor crew members who were involved,” Delta CEO Ed Bastian said. “We’ll do everything we can to support them and their families in the days ahead, and I know the hearts, thoughts and prayers of the entire Delta community are with them. We are grateful for all the first responders and medical teams who have been caring for them.”
The crash occurred during blowing snow and strong wind gusts in the region. Winds reached 40 mph on the ground and were even stronger several hundred feet in the air.
Toronto Airport Fire Chief Todd Aitken said the runway was dry and there were no crosswind conditions at the time of the crash.
(TORONTO) — New video has emerged on Tuesday of the chaotic moments after Delta flight 4819 flipped over on the runway at Toronto Pearson International Airport.
In the video — obtained exclusively by ABC News — passengers can be seen hanging upside down in the cabin, being held into their seats dangling only by their seatbelts.
There were no warning signs for the passengers aboard Delta Flight 4819, as the 76 passengers and four crew approached a snowy Toronto Pearson International Airport on Monday afternoon, according to passenger John Nelson.
“The winds were whipping pretty hard and the runways were snow covered,” Nelson recounted to ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos. “There was no warning.”
As the plane’s wheels touched the tarmac, Nelson described hitting the runway “extremely hard,” the aircraft popping slightly into the air, and the entire plane learning to the left.
“It was just incredibly fast. There was a giant firewall down the side. I could actually feel the heat through the glass,” Nelson recounted.“Then we were going sideways. I’m not even sure how many times we tumbled, but we ended upside down,” he said.
When the plane finally came to a stop, Nelson recounted that the cabin was suddenly quiet before the 80 people onboard — most of whom were hanging upside down bats in the cabin – attempted to “make a sense of what just had happened.”
“We released the seat belts. I kind of fell to the floor, which is now the ceiling, and helped the lady next to me get out of her seat belt,” Nelson said.
According to Nelson, the flight attendants immediately took control, directing passengers to exit the cabin and opening the emergency doors.
“You heard the flight attendants yelling, ‘Open the door. Everybody, take your stuff and get out now,’” he recounted. “We all worked together and got out of there as quickly as we could.”
According to Nelson, the scene was surprisingly “calm” as passengers assisted each other to crawl out of the plane and find their phones.
When he made it out the plane, Nelson took out his phone to capture the moment as every passenger and crew on the flight made it out alive.
“We’re in Toronto. We just landed. Our plane crashed. It’s upside down. Fire Department is on site. Upside down. Most people appear to be okay, we’re all getting off,” he said while shooting the video, which has been seen by millions over the last 24 hours.
“What was going through your mind? Could you believe you’d survived a crash?” Stephanopoulos asked.
“No, it’s something that I don’t think you can ever even really prepare for,” Nelson recounted. “As we were tumbling … I tried to just keep from hitting my head right, and just trying to protect myself and my body. I was trying to, just to do the best to make it through it.”
Peter Koukov, who was also able to shoot video as he crawled out, said he didn’t know something was wrong until they hit the ground.
“We hit the ground and we were sideways, and then we were hanging upside down like bats,” Koukov told ABC News. “It all happened pretty, pretty fast. The plane was upside down, obviously, some people were kind of hanging and needed some help being helped down.”
The flight crew can be seen standing on the ceiling helping passengers scramble to escape in the video.
“The one minute you’re landing and kind of waiting to see your friends and your people and the next minute you’re physically upside down and just really turned around,” Pete Carlson, a passenger on the plane, told ABC News. “It sounded, I mean, it was just cement and metal, you know.”
The Delta regional jet, a CRJ 900 aircraft operated by Endeavor Air, departed from Minneapolis on Monday afternoon, heading to Toronto with 76 passengers and four crew landing just after 2 p.m. local time.
“All of a sudden the fire trucks and helicopters, you know, pushed out on a trolley and thought there was something wrong,” said Ron James, an eyewitness who saw the smoke right before he was supposed to board his flight at a nearby terminal. “Then we were going to get on the plane and they said no you’re not going anywhere.”
At least 18 passengers were taken to hospitals, airport officials said in an update Monday evening.
Peel Regional Paramedic Services said none of the injuries were considered to be life-threatening.
Three people suffered critical injuries — one child, a man in his 60s and a woman in her 40s — according to Ornge, which provides medical transport. The child was transported to the Hospital for Sick Children and is listed in good condition, the hospital said Monday evening.
Among the others, 12 people have mild injuries, Peel Regional Paramedics Services said.
“Airport emergency workers mounted a textbook response, reaching the site within minutes,” said Deborah Flint, president and CEO of Toronto Pearson International Airport. “This outcome is in due part to their heroic work, and I thank them profusely.”
At the time of landing, winds were gusting up to 40 mph but the cause of the crash is still under investigation.
“This is an active investigation. It’s very early on,” said Todd Aitken, fire chief at Toronto Pearson International Airport. “It’s really important that we do not speculate. What we can say is the runway was dry and there was no crosswind conditions.”
Russian Foreign Ministry / Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images
(LONDON) — High-level delegations from the U.S. and Russia held talks in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday over the fate of Ukraine, the negotiations taking place without Kyiv’s participation.
The State Department said the talks were aimed to discuss ending the now three-year-long war, which began with Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbor in 2022 and followed sustained cross-border aggression from Moscow since 2014.
Tuesday’s meeting in Riyadh concluded after around five hours, according to the press pool covering the meeting, with the State Department saying the discussions represented “an important step forward” toward “enduring peace.”
The talks between Moscow and Washington end a period of some three years — since President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin met in Geneva before Russia invaded Ukraine — without senior-level engagement between the two nations.
The U.S. team was led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and National Security Adviser Michael Waltz. The Russian negotiating delegation included Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Kremlin foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov and Kirill Dmitriev, the head of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund.
State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said the U.S. team agreed to establish “a consultation mechanism to address irritants to our bilateral relationship with the objective of taking steps necessary to normalize the operation of our respective diplomatic missions.” Rubio told the Associated Press the two sides agreed to restore embassy staffing as part of this normalization.
The two sides also agreed to appoint “high-level teams to begin working on a path to ending the conflict in Ukraine as soon as possible in a way that is enduring, sustainable and acceptable to all sides,” Bruce said, plus to “lay the groundwork for future cooperation on matters of mutual geopolitical interest and historic economic and investment opportunities which will emerge from a successful end to the conflict in Ukraine.”
“The parties to today’s meetings pledge to remain engaged to make sure the process moves forward in a timely and productive manner,” Bruce added.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy responded to the talks while visiting Turkey, suggesting Russia was reviving ultimatums it issued as part of the peace talks that took place in the early stages of Moscow’s full-scale invasion.
“I have the impression that there are now some negotiations happening and they have the same mood, but between Russia and the United States,” Zelenskyy said at the Ukrainian embassy in Ankara.
“Again, about Ukraine without Ukraine,” he added. “It’s interesting, if Ukraine didn’t yield to ultimatums in the most difficult moment, where does the feeling come from that Ukraine will agree to this now?”
“I never intended to yield to Russia’s ultimatums and I don’t intend to now,” Zelenskyy said.
Lavrov and Rubio talked on the phone Saturday, according to the State Department, after a conversation between Putin and President Donald Trump last week.
While a spokesperson for Putin said the meeting would be “devoted” primarily to “restoring the entire range of Russian-American relations,” Bruce said that the meeting would be more narrowly focused on the “larger issue of Ukraine.”
After the Trump-Putin conversation, Bruce called the meeting the “second step to determine if the Russians perhaps are serious, and if they’re on the same page.”
Ukraine ‘will not recognize’ deal struck without it Zelenskyy was not invited to the meeting. Zelenskyy said Monday that Ukraine “cannot acknowledge any … agreements about us without us, and will not recognize such agreements.”
“Earlier, during the war, it was considered taboo to talk to the aggressor,” the Ukrainian president said.
On Tuesday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told journalists that Putin is prepared for negotiations with Zelenskyy “if necessary,” though again questioned the Ukrainian president’s legitimacy. Putin and his officials have repeatedly framed Zelenskyy as illegitimate, citing the delay to planned Ukrainian presidential elections necessitated by martial law.
Amid the flurry of diplomatic activity, French President Emmanuel Macron convened a meeting of European heads of government in Paris Monday ahead of the U.S.-Russia engagement.
Macron and Trump spoke via telephone for nearly 30 minutes prior to the European meeting, a White House official said. The official called the conversation “friendly” and said it included discussion of the war in Ukraine and the U.S.-Russia bilateral meetings Tuesday.
Mike Waltz, the White House national security adviser, said on Sunday he would “push back on … any notion that [Ukrainians] aren’t being consulted.”
“They absolutely are. And at the end of the day, though, this is going to be under President Trump’s leadership that we get this war to an end,” Waltz said, conceding “they may not like some of the sequencing that is going on in these negotiations.”
Zelenskyy himself was in the Middle East, where he met with officials in the United Arab Emirates Monday, with Tuesday meetings scheduled in Turkey and Saudi Arabia. Zelenskyy said he would ask Saudi de facto leader and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman about the U.S.-Russia meetings when in Riyadh.
The opening of White House-facilitated talks on peace in Ukraine came after Trump officials signaled potential terms for a deal in the lead up to, and during, the Munich Security Conference in Germany last week.
Ahead of the conference, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth called a return to Ukrainian borders before Russia’s 2014 invasion of Crimea “unrealistic.” That “illusionary goal” — and NATO membership for Ukraine — would not be promoted by the U.S., the secretary said.
Zelenskyy told Munich attendees that Ukraine must be assured of membership in “NATO, or a reliable alternative.”
He called for the building of the “armed forces of Europe” as the Trump administration presses for more European spending on defense.
Among the attendees of Macron’s hastily organized meeting in Paris, the prime ministers of the United Kingdom and Sweden said they would be open to contributing armed forces on the ground in Ukraine in a peacekeeping capacity after a potential deal is struck.
“If there is a peace deal [for Ukraine], and everybody wants a peace deal, then it’s got to be a lasting peace deal, not just a pause for Putin to come again,” U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in Paris.
“There’s also a wider piece here which is the collective security and defense in Europe, and here, I think we’ve got a generational challenge. We’ve all got to step up,” he added.
ABC News’ Molly Nagle, Patrick Reevell, Yulia Drozd and Joe Simonetti contributed to this report.
(LONDON and ROME) — The Vatican has announced that the Jubilee Audience on Saturday has been cancelled as Pope Francis continues recover in hospital from a respiratory tract infection.
“Due to the Holy Father’s health condition, the Jubilee Audience on Saturday, Feb. 22, is cancelled,” the Vatican said Tuesday morning. “For the celebration of the Holy Mass on the occasion of the Jubilee of Deacons, scheduled for Sunday, Feb. 23, at 9 a.m., in St. Peter’s Basilica, Pope Francis has delegated H.E. Msgr. Rino Fisichella, Pro-Prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization, Section for Fundamental Issues of Evangelization in the World.”
Matteo Bruni, the director of the Vatican press room, told reporters on Sunday that the pope had his second consecutive restful night after being admitted to the hospital on Friday.
“Pope Francis had a tranquil night. He slept well, had breakfast and read a few papers, as usual,” Bruni said.
On Saturday, the Vatican said the pope “rested all night” Friday and had no fever on Saturday morning. His treatment has been slightly modified based on further “microbiological findings,” according to the Vatican.
The Vatican added, “To facilitate his recovery, the medical staff prescribed absolute rest.”
The pope was admitted to a hospital on Friday for “necessary tests” and to continue his ongoing bronchitis treatment, the Vatican said.
ANSA, the Italian news agency, reported that “several sources” revealed the pope had arrived on Friday at Gemelli Hospital very fatigued due to difficulty in breathing related to an excess of phlegm and that the treatment he was undergoing at home had not yielded the expected results.
“Pope Francis has been informed of the many messages of closeness and affection he has received and expresses his gratitude, as well as asking for continued prayers,” the Vatican added.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer called on European nations to “step up” to help secure a lasting peace in Ukraine, committing for the first time to deploying British soldiers to the country to support any deal agreed with Russia.
“We are facing a once-in-a-generation moment for the collective security of our continent,” Starmer wrote in an op-ed for The Telegraph published on Sunday. “This is not only a question about the future of Ukraine — it is existential for Europe as a whole.”
“The U.K. is ready to play a leading role in accelerating work on security guarantees for Ukraine,” the prime minister wrote, noting the country’s commitment to spending nearly $4 billion to support Kyiv’s forces until at least 2030.
“But it also means being ready and willing to contribute to security guarantees to Ukraine by putting our own troops on the ground if necessary,” Starmer continued.
“I do not say that lightly,” he added. “I feel very deeply the responsibility that comes with potentially putting British servicemen and women in harm’s way. But any role in helping to guarantee Ukraine’s security is helping to guarantee the security of our continent and the security of this country.”
Starmer’s commitment makes him one of few NATO leaders to have suggested putting allied boots on the ground inside Ukraine to support any future peace deal. French President Emmanuel Macron has previously been at the forefront of such proposals, with Baltic states including Estonia and Lithuania also among those expressing willingness.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has consistently concrete security guarantees from Western partners are a vital part of any peace deal with Russia, and a necessary deterrent of renewed aggression from Moscow. Allies have been cool on — or outright opposed to — Ukraine’s ambition for rapid NATO accession and subsequent protection under the bloc’s Article 5 collective defense clause.
The offer of British troops comes after a turbulent week in NATO-Ukraine relations, with President Donald Trump unilaterally announcing the beginning of direct peace talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and his top officials making clear the limits of U.S. backing for Kyiv.
In the run up to last weekend’s Munich Security Conference in southern Germany, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Ukraine will not be offered NATO membership in the near future, that Kyiv will not be able to liberate all occupied territory and that American troops will not be sent to the country as part of any peace deal.
Hegseth and Vice President JD Vance also hit out at European allies for doing too little to support Ukraine, contain Russia and bolster their own military readiness. The continent must “step up in a big way,” Vance said, while also rattling European allies by claiming they have failed to address issues of migration and free speech.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration has continued its push for a deal with Ukraine to secure access to some $500 billion worth of rare earth metals. Zelenskyy refused to approve a draft of the agreement this weekend, telling the Associated Press that the deal “is not ready to protect us, our interest.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio flew to Saudi Arabia on Monday — where he will be joined by National Security Adviser Mike Waltz and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff — for the expected beginning of talks with top Russian officials.
In a Sunday interview with Fox News, Witkoff said the U.S. delegation will “be having meetings at the direction of the president. And, hopefully, we’ll make some really good progress with regard to Russia-Ukraine.”
Pushed on whether Kyiv will be pressured into specific concessions, Witkoff responded, “I’m not dismissive of the details. They’re important. But I think the beginning here is trust-building.”
“It’s getting everything to understand that this war does not continue, that it should end,” he added. “That’s what the president has directed us to do, to negotiate a proper ending of this war. No more death.”
The mission to Riyadh comes days after Trump said he spoke with Putin over the phone about starting negotiations, adding he expected an eventual in-person meeting with the Russian leader in Saudi Arabia.
It remains unclear whether Ukraine will be involved in the negotiations. Kyiv and its European allies have urged the White House to facilitate roles for Ukrainian and European leaders in the talks.
Zelenskyy, meanwhile, flew to the neighboring United Arab Emirates for an official visit. The nation has played a prominent role in Kyiv-Moscow prisoner exchange talks during the war.
“Our top priority is bringing even more of our people home from captivity,” Zelenskyy wrote on social media. “We will also focus on investments and economic partnership, as well as a large-scale humanitarian program.”
The president’s office told ABC News that Zelenskyy will travel to Saudi Arabia on Tuesday for a pre-planned bilateral visit.
Zelenskyy told NBC News on Sunday that his nation will “never accept any decisions between the United States and Russia” made regarding Ukraine’s future without Kyiv’s participation.
Fierce fighting and long-long attacks continue as Kyiv and Moscow prepare for the revival of talks. On Sunday night, Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 147 drones into the country, 83 of which were downed and 59 jammed.
Russia’s Defense Ministry, meanwhile, said it shot down 90 Ukrainian drones.
ABC News’ Will Gretsky and Selina Wang contributed to this report.
(ROME) — Pope Francis is showing “some” improvement in his lab tests as the pontiff remains hospitalized with a respiratory tract infection, the Vatican said Saturday.
The pope “rested all night” and he has no fever, the Vatican said in a statement. His treatment has been slightly modified based on further “microbiological findings,” according to the statement.
The Vatican added, “To facilitate his recovery, the medical staff prescribed absolute rest; therefore, tomorrow, Sunday, Feb. 16, the Holy Father will not lead the Angelus prayer; nevertheless, he intends to send the text for its publication.”
The pope was admitted to a hospital on Friday for “necessary tests” and to continue his ongoing bronchitis treatment, the Vatican said.
Medical tests are expected to continue over the weekend, Italian media reported.
“Pope Francis has been informed of the many messages of closeness and affection he has received and expresses his gratitude, as well as asking for continued prayers,” the Vatican added.
According to the ANSA Italian news agency, “multiple Vatican sources” earlier reported the pope spent “a quiet night” which is “consistent with the clinical picture for which he was hospitalized yesterday at the Gemelli [hospital] in Rome.”
All of the reports regarding the pontiff’s bill of health have been reassuring, indicating that his fever has also decreased since he was admitted to hospital, ANSA said.
ANSA also reported that “several sources” revealed that the pope had arrived on Friday at Gemelli very fatigued due to a difficulty in breathing related to an excess of phlegm and that the treatment he was undergoing at home had not yielded the expected results.
However, there is optimism at the Vatican about the new medical treatment started yesterday immediately after the tests, which established that the pontiff was suffering from an infection of the respiratory tract, according to ANSA.
Holy See spokesperson Matteo Bruni spoke to reporters in the press room on Saturday and said that Pope Francis “ate breakfast and read some newspapers.” He also added that “the tests and [medical] therapies” are continuing.
(NEW YORK) — Vice President JD Vance and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met on Friday on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference to discuss how to bring an end to the Russia-Ukraine war.
“We had a number of fruitful conversations, a number of things for us to follow up and work on,” Vance said. “And fundamentally, the goal is, as President Trump outlined it, we want the war to come to a close.”
“We want the killing to stop, but we want to achieve a durable, lasting peace, not the kind of peace that’s going to have Eastern Europe in conflict just a couple years down the road,” the vice president said.
Zelenskyy thanked the U.S. and President Donald Trump for supporting Ukraine. He said they will work together on a plan to “stop” Russian President Vladimir Putin but emphasized Ukraine will need certain security guarantees as they move forward.
“We have good conversation today,” Zelenskyy said. “Our first meeting, not last, sure and really, what we need to speak for, to work for and to prepare the plan how to stop Putin and finish the war. We want, really, we want peace very much, but we need real security guarantees, and we will continue our meetings and our work.”
The meeting came on the heels of Trump’s 90-minute call with Putin on Wednesday, his first major diplomatic foray into the conflict he vowed on the campaign trail to bring to an end as soon as he entered office.
Trump also spoke with Zelenskyy that day, but his decision to speak with Putin first prompted criticism from the Ukrainian leader and other U.S. allies. Trump defended the decision on Thursday, saying he needed to know if Russia wanted to “make a deal.”
The administration has offered mixed messages on its position toward negotiations.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Wednesday ruled out NATO membership for Ukraine and called full territorial liberation of Ukraine’s pre-war borders an “unrealistic” goal. Hegseth also said there would be no U.S. troops deployed to Ukraine.
Vance, however, told the Wall Street Journal the option of military action is on the table if Russia doesn’t negotiate in “good faith.”
“There are economic tools of leverage, there are of course military tools of leverage” the U.S. could use against Putin, Vance said in an interview with the newspaper.
When Trump was asked on Thursday what Russia should have to give up during negotiations, he sidestepped.
“As far as the negotiation, it’s too early to say what is going to happen,” Trump said. “Maybe Russia will give up a lot. Maybe they won’t.”
Zelenskyy said on Friday he is counting on Trump and the U.S. for support in the negotiations and that he won’t meet with Putin until “we have a joint plan with Trump and the EU.”
When asked whether negotiations will move forward even if Ukraine does not want to come to the table with Putin, Vance sidestepped.
“It’s important for us to get together and start to have the conversations that are going to be necessary to bring this thing to a close,” Vance said. “That’s all I’m going to say for now, because I want to preserve the optionality here for the negotiators and our respective teams to bring this thing to a responsible close.”
