The crisis was a new setback in the Pope's fight to recover from a complicated respiratory infection, which has lasted more than two weeks. Pope Francis has chronic lung disease and had part of one lung removed as a young man.

The 88-year-old pontiff has been hospitalized since Feb. 14 after a bout of bronchitis worsened and turned into a complex pneumonia in both lungs.

Pope Francis suffered two episodes of "acute respiratory insufficiency" on Monday, the Vatican said, a setback for the 88-year-old pontiff as he battles double pneumonia. Francis, who has been in Rome's Gemelli Hospital since February 14,