Why Pope Francis Only Has One Lung
Pope Francis is a pioneering pontiff in many ways he's the first to take the name of Francis, the first pope from South America, and the first to don the papal robes with one lung.
According to the Associated Press, the new Pope had one of his organs removed as a teenager, presumably after a bout with an infection. At that time, it's possible that antibiotic treatments that are commonly used today to treat such infections were not as available, and to protect patients from further health problems doctors removed the lung as way to stop the infection from spreading.
"It was probably a pretty bad infection, and maybe even an abscess, that might have caused him to bleed," says Dr. John Belperio, association professor of pulmonary and critical care medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at University of California Los Angeles. "If he were bleeding a lot in the lung, the only thing to do is to resect the lung, take it out, to stop the bleeding."
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Most bacterial infections wouldn't cause such serious damage to the lung tissue, but, says Dr. Ronald Crystal, professor of medicine at NewYork Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, some strains, such as staphylococci, are [url=http://www.wholesalejerseybiz.us.com/]Wholesale NFL Jerseys[/url] more destructive and could eat away at the delicate organ, leaving doctors with no choice but to remove the affected tissue to prevent more widespread health problems.
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Anything from pneumonia to a fungus or even tuberculosis could have caused the initial infection, which, if it wasn't controlled properly, would have resulted in removal of the lung.
Other possible reasons for the surgery include a birth defect that caused an abnormality in the lung tissue, or an unusual growth of blood vessels into the air sacs that would obstruct normal breathing.
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Fortunately, the lungs are a redundant system, and losing one lung doesn't seriously compromise health. The only concern Pope Francis faced, and will continue to face, is that he has less respiratory reserve than someone with two intact lungs. That means he may be at slightly higher risk of complications from influenza or more vulnerable to succumbing to pneumonia. But, says Belperio, the fact that the 76 year old has lived a relatively healthy life so far demonstrates that his surgery did little to hamper his ability to live a full and active life.
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In fact, animal studies suggest that the lung has a remarkable ability to regenerate, and some preliminary work in young children shows that they may be able to regrow some amount of lost lung tissue as well.
As long as the Pope takes extra precautions to protect against infection including getting vaccinated against pneumonia and having a flu shot every year there no reason to believe the health of the Church 266th pontiff will be an issue. "He'll do fine," says Crystal.
Habemus Papam! Viva il papa! We have a new pope, Pope Francis, whose character, simplicity, humility and a clear sense of vision and mission for the Church are apparent and felt by those who have come to know him personally. He has the capacity and moral ascendancy to lead the flock by example, particularly at this time and age when the Church, just like any other international human institutions, such as the United Nation and its member countries themselves, is buffeted by internal and external conflicts, which to a certain degree and instance even made his predecessor Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI admit as "moments of turbulent seas and rough winds, as have occurred in the history of the church when it seemed like the Lord was sleeping."
But the Catholic Church will survive as it has survived for the last 2,000 years or so. It even survived the great Roman Empire, which persecuted the early Christians and even crucified to death the first Pope, now venerated (not worshiped) as St. Peter, the apostle, just as it has survived the scribes and pharisees, the Turks and the vandals and the other empires, kingdoms and dictatorships listed in human history. As to the so called Roman Empire, which succumbed to the vandals and finally fell sometime in AD 476, among the few remaining glories of the aforesaid empire is its classic history and works of art and perhaps the honor which the Catholic Church continues to give the defunct empire by calling the universal church the Roman Catholic Church. But even Italians today prefer to call themselves "Italians" rather than "Romans" and they speak Italian rather than Latin. Perhaps, the next generation or two of the Catholic faithful and their servant leaders may finally decide to adopt a name for the church which is more proper, accurate, relevant and significant by calling the church "Catholic Christian Church," with Christ as the beginning and the center. As to the current concern that the Catholic Church is already slowly losing some members who have transferred affiliation to other religious or spiritual denominations, that is not a new phenomenon to the Church. Even Jesus Christ, who is God Himself and founder of the Church, was abandoned by some of his followers who could not take and understand some of his teachings, particularly referring to the mystery of the Eucharist, and complaining: "This is too hard for us to accept." Worse still, from among the first twelve, yes twelve, apostles who were personally chosen by Jesus Christ Himself andwho personally witnessed with their own eyes and ears the miracles and sermons of their Master, one of them, Judas Iscariot, believed to be the treasurer of the group, betrayed Jesus todeath for a mere thirty pieces of silver. Another one, Peter, also known as Simeon bar Jona, appointed by his Master to be the leader of the group and to whom Jesus Himself proclaimed "Thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build mychurch," denied his Master not once, not twice but three times. And finally the third one, Thomas, at first openly doubted that his Master had actually resurrected from death. That the Catholic Church, indeed, is losing some of its members from the fold is not really surprising nor a big issue, considering that there is an increasing number of religious groups with different perspectives and practices, though different more in methodology rather than in theology. Amay P. The secondary
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