Is Pope Francis compos or non compos?

Did you see the videos of Jorge Bergoglio, the man who calls himself "Pope Francis", appearing on the balcony of Rome's Gemelli Hospital on Sunday? Painful to look at, wasn't it? The photo below makes him look better than he does in the videos. Faithful Catholics are left wondering: just how ill is he, really?

Pope Bergoglio looked frail, to put it mildly. His breathing was laboured, making it difficult for him to speak to the hundreds of people gathered in the square in front of the hospital. "Thank you everyone," he said in a wisp of a voice. Then he said, "I see a woman with yellow flowers. She's good." Then, with a trembling hand, he made the sign of the cross in a blessing, before being wheeled back into the hospital. 

What did you make of that? How did Francis look to you? To me, the feeble wave (note the position of the fingers on his hand, like something out of Star Trek) and the child-like comment about the lady with the flowers, looked like someone who has lapsed into senile dementia.

You don't think so? Have you never seen a retarded mentally challenged person wave at someone? Have you never heard such a person respond to a caregiver's "Look, Timmy! What's that?" I'm not making fun of anyone, just pointing out that, to me, Pope Bergoglio appears to have lost not just his faculties but his mental faculties too. Non compos mentis -- the phrase in the language of the Church for someone who has lost  his mind.

And why should Francis's mental function have not been diminished over the nearly a month that he was receiving "supplemental oxygen" while he was fighting his battle with double pneumonia. Just yesterday, Professor Sergio Alfieri, the lead doctor of the medical staff looking after the pope, told Corriere della Sera that considered stopping his treatment so he could die.

Thehe most critical moment, the good doctor said, came on 28 February, when the pope had a breathing crisis and inhaled his own vomit. "We had to choose whether to stop and let him go or force it and try with all the drugs and therapies possible," the good doctor said, "running the very high risk of damaging other organs. And in the end, we took this path." One of the "other organs" would certainly be the brain.

Was that Francis's choice. Prof. Alfieri said, "The Holy Father always decides. He delegated all kinds of health care choices to Massimiliano Strappetti, his personal health care assistant, who knows perfectly well the Pontiff’s wishes." He reportedly told Prof. Alfieri, "Try everything, we won’t give up. That’s what we all thought too. And no one gave up."

Francis has returned to his residence at Casa Santa Marta, where the Vatican says will receive treatment including mobility and respiratory-related physiotherapy, especially for voice recovery, and engage in personal prayer. Doctors also advised him to have 24-hour medical assistance, including oxygen therapy, and in case of any emergencies.

Let me ask, then, an annocent question. If Francis was (and still is) that sick, and has apparently only limited understand of what's going on around him (as the video suggests), who's writing all these notes, memos and decrees that Francis is allegedly signing? Are they being signed with an autopen? Who's pushing the buttons?

For an answer to that last question, look no further than "'Peter the Roman' ready to take over from Francis", WWW 14/1/18. God save His Holy Church!