Pope Francis was in such a critical condition as he battled pneumonia in both lungs that his doctors considered letting him die, the head of his medical team has revealed.

The Pope was conscious throughout his five-week hospitalisation in Rome and was fully aware that he could die, said Dr Sergio Alfieri.

The worst moment of the 88-year-old pontiff’s ordeal came on February 28, when his condition worsened dramatically and he struggled to breathe.

Doctors were faced with making a decision to let him die in peace or use all the resources at their disposal to try to keep him alive.

“We had to choose if we would stop there and let him go, or go forward and push it with all the drugs and therapies possible, running the very high risk of damaging his other organs,” Dr Alfieri told Corriere della Sera, an Italian newspaper, on Tuesday. “In the end, we took this path.”

“For days, we risked causing damage to his kidneys and bone marrow, but we went ahead, and his body responded to the drugs and his lung infection lessened. For the first time, I saw tears in the eyes of the people around him,” said the doctor, from Gemelli Hospital in Rome. “We were all aware that the situation had worsened and there was the risk that he might not make it.”