What’s Behind the Stain on Pope Francis' Face?
The first hypothesis suggests that the mark may be a 'very large haematoma' caused by the collapse of blood vessels following an ischaemic event. The official medical report describes a cerebral stroke, followed by a coma and cardiac arrest — a clinical scenario consistent with facial bruising, particularly in critically ill patients.
Dr Sabrina Anticoli, a neurologist and head of the Stroke Unit at San Camillo Hospital in Rome, suggests a second possibility: that Pope Francis may have suffered minor trauma from falling while getting up, likely due to an episode of hemiplegia (paralysis of one side of the body), a common consequence of a stroke. In very elderly and frail patients, even slight trauma can result in large, visible haematomas.
A third hypothesis considers age-related physiological changes. In elderly individuals, the skin becomes thinner and the blood vessels become more fragile, making haematomas more likely to form, even from light pressure or post-mortem movement. In this case, the position of the body after death could have caused blood to pool on the left side of the face, producing the visible mark.
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