VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis spent a quiet night in hospital, the Vatican said Saturday, as the 88-year-old head of the Catholic Church battles pneumonia.
“The night was calm, the pope is resting”, it said in its brief morning update on the Argentine, who has been in a special papal suite at Rome’s Gemelli hospital since February 14.
The pontiff has suffered several respiratory crises since his admission, most recently on Monday, but for several days now the Vatican has described his condition as “stable”.
He is still in a “complex clinical condition” so “the prognosis remains guarded”, it said Friday.
On Thursday Francis released an audio message -- the first time the world had heard his voice since he went into hospital -- in which he thanked those praying for his recovery.
The pontiff sounded weak and breathless despite marking three weeks of treatment at the Gemelli.
“I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your prayers for my health from the Square. I accompany you from here,“ said Francis, taking laboured breaths every couple of words.
The pope did a bit of work and some physiotherapy Friday, but mostly rested and prayed, including spending around 20 minutes in the little chapel inside the hospital's papal suite, the Vatican said.
He continues to switch between an oxygen mask at night and a cannula -- a plastic tube tucking into the nostrils -- delivering high-flow oxygen during the day.
In a bid for greater transparency, the Vatican has been publishing an update on how the pope slept every morning, followed by a more detailed medical bulletin each evening.
On Thursday it said that “in view of the stability of the clinical picture”, there would be no medical bulletin on Friday evening. The next is due later Saturday.
During previous hospitalisations, the leader of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics appeared on the Gemelli balcony for his weekly Sunday Angelus prayer.
But he has missed the last three, and no announcement has yet been made about whether he will make an appearance this weekend.
The pope has suffered a series of health issues in recent years, from colon surgery in 2021 to a hernia operation in 2023, but this is the longest and most serious hospitalisation of his papacy.
