Rudy Giuliani’s serious hospital battle has taken an unexpected turn after the former New York City mayor received last rites while in critical condition.
Giuliani, 81, was hospitalized on Sunday, May 3, and placed in the ICU. His spokesperson, Ted Goodman, later shared that Giuliani had been transferred out of intensive care and would “spend some time recovering before leaving the hospital.”
“The mayor and his family appreciate the outpouring of love and prayers sent his way,” Goodman wrote in a May 6 update on X.mHe added that Giuliani is “the same fighter he’s always been, and he’s winning this fight.”
Rudy Giuliani Received Last Rites In Hospital
During his hospitalization, Giuliani was visited by a priest on Monday, May 4. His primary care physician, Dr. Maria Ryan, told Fox News that the priest performed last rites while Giuliani was in serious condition. “He’s a fighter, the way he was yesterday in such a critical condition, he did have a priest come anoint him,” Ryan said.
She then described his improvement as remarkable. “And all the prayers from around, it’s like a miracle,” Ryan continued. “This guy’s got nine lives, today he’s doing much better.”
Goodman also credited prayer in his update. “The power of prayer is working. The mayor feels it. We feel it,” he wrote. “Please keep them coming for America’s Mayor, Rudy Giuliani.”
Pneumonia Complicated By 9/11 Health Issues
Goodman previously said Giuliani was recovering from pneumonia and noted that the former mayor’s health was complicated by lasting respiratory issues connected to the Sept. 11 attacks.
Giuliani served as New York City mayor from 1994 to 2001 and was in office during 9/11. “On September 11th, Mayor Giuliani ran toward the towers to help those in need, which later led to a diagnosis of restrictive airway disease,” Goodman said.
He explained that the condition made the respiratory illness more dangerous. “This condition adds complications to any respiratory illness, and the virus quickly overwhelmed his body, requiring mechanical ventilation to maintain adequate oxygen and stabilize his condition,” Goodman continued. At the time, Goodman said Giuliani was breathing on his own, with his family and primary medical provider at his side.
Before that update, a source close to the Trump administration said Giuliani’s condition had worried people around him. “He isn’t in good shape,” the source said.
Giuliani Previously Survived A Serious Car Crash
Giuliani’s latest health crisis comes less than a year after he was badly injured in a car accident in New Hampshire in August 2025. At the time, his head of security, Michael Ragusa, said Giuliani had been flagged down by a woman who was the victim of a domestic violence incident and had stopped to help. According to Ragusa, Giuliani “immediately rendered assistance and contacted 911.”
The statement said Giuliani stayed at the scene until police arrived. Afterward, while traveling on the highway, his vehicle was struck from behind at high speed.
Giuliani was hospitalized with a fractured thoracic vertebra, multiple cuts and bruises, and injuries to his left arm and lower leg. In September 2025, he was photographed wearing a full chest brace and using a wheelchair during a 9/11 memorial service at the World Trade Center.
Now, after pneumonia, ICU treatment, and last rites, Giuliani is out of intensive care. His team says the fight is not over, but the latest update is far better than the one his family feared days earlier.
