A report indicates that doctors treating Pope Francis at one point considered halting treatment due to concerns that he might not survive.

Dr. Sergio Alfieri, medical director at Gemelli Hospital, described the events of February 28, when the 88-year-old Pope experienced a coughing episode and inhaled vomit. This prompted medical staff to provide respiratory assistance via a ventilation mask.

In an interview with Corriere della Sera newspaper published Tuesday, Alfieri stated, “For the first time I saw tears in the eyes of some of the people around him. People who, I understood during this period of hospitalization, sincerely love him, like a father. We were all aware that the situation had worsened further and there was a risk that he would not make it.”

He continued, “We had to choose whether to stop and let him go or force it and try with all the drugs and therapies possible, running the very high risk of damaging other organs. And in the end we took this path,” according to the report.

did not immediately respond Tuesday to a request for comment by Digital.

Alfieri told the newspaper that Pope Francis “delegated every type of healthcare decision to Massimiliano Strappetti, his personal healthcare assistant who knows the Pope’s wishes perfectly.”

“Try everything, we won’t give up,” Alfieri recalled Strappetti saying to hospital staff. “That’s what we all thought too. And no one gave up”.

“Even when [Francis’] condition worsened he was fully conscious. That evening was terrible, he knew, like us, that he might not survive the night,” Alfieri also told Corriere della Sera. “We saw the man who was suffering. But from day one he asked us to tell him the truth and he wanted us to tell the truth about his condition.”

Francis was in Rome on Sunday.

A Vatican spokesman stated Tuesday that Pope Francis is glad to be home and that his breathing and movement therapy is ongoing.

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