What if he goes into a persistive vegetative state? Will the cardinals remove his feeding tube? That would be some hugh and series irony.
His body's in the process of giving out...kidney failure, heart failure, which is normally followed with lung problems, his breathing is shallow...and there's the sepsis, too...this isn't going to be a problem. He is walking that border between death and life right now, if he hasn't already crossed over.