Francis suffered the two crises Monday. Doctors extracted “copious” amounts of mucus that had accumulated in his lungs, the Vatican said in a late update.

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.

Pope Francis has been hospitalized at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital since mid-February, where he has been battling double pneumonia. On Friday, he had a sudden respiratory episode, which required him to receive an oxygen mask. His current hospitalization is his fourth - and now longest - stay since he became pope in 2013.