Pope Francis shows slight improvement and resumes some work, while still critical, Vatican says

ROME (AP) — Pope Francis remained in critical condition Monday but showed slight improvement in laboratory tests and resumed some work, the Vatican said, including calling a parish in Gaza City that he has kept in touch with since the war there began.

The Vatican’s evening bulletin was more upbeat than in recent days, as the 88-year-old Francis battles pneumonia in both lungs at Rome's Gemelli hospital. It was issued shortly before the Vatican No. 2 led the faithful in a somber night-time recitation of the Rosary prayer in St. Peter's Square that evoked the vigils when St. John Paul II was dying.

"For 2,000 years the Christian people have prayed for the pope when he was in danger or sick," Cardinal Pietro Parolin told the rain-dappled piazza. Standing on the same stage where Francis usually presides, Parolin said ever since Francis had been hospitalized, a chorus of prayers for his recovery had swelled up from around the world.

“Starting this evening, we want to unite ourselves publicly to this prayer here, in his house,” Parolin said, praying that Francis “in this moment of illness and trial" would recover quickly.

The Argentine pope, who had part of one lung removed as a young man, has been hospitalized since Feb. 14 and doctors have said his condition is touch-and-go, given his age, fragility and pre-existing lung disease.

But in Monday's update, they said he hadn’t had any more respiratory crises since Saturday, and the supplemental oxygen he is using continued but with a slightly reduced oxygen flow and concentrations. The slight kidney insufficiency detected on Sunday was not causing alarm at the moment, doctors said, while saying his prognosis remained guarded.

Francis received the Eucharist Monday morning and resumed working in the afternoon.

“In the evening he called the parish priest of the Gaza parish to express his fatherly closeness,” the statement said.

For over a year, Francis has checked in daily via videocall with the Argentine priest, the Rev. Gabriel Romanelli, who leads the Catholic community at the church, which during Israel's war had served as a shelter for Palestinians. Romanelli had reported hearing from Francis soon after he was hospitalized, but not since. He had sent Francis a video, and the pope called to thank him, the Vatican said.

Francis was in good spirits, was not in pain and was not receiving artificial nutrition, the Vatican said. The work he was doing included reading and signing documents, and indeed the Vatican's daily noon bulletin has included new bishop nominations nearly every day, even though most were decided in advance.

At the Gemelli hospital, the mood was nevertheless grim. Bishop Claudio Giuliodori presided over an emotional, standing-room-only Mass in the chapel named for John Paul, who was hospitalized there many times. Some of the estimated 200 people who attended were in white doctor’s coats or green surgical scrubs; some knelt in prayer.

“We are very sorry. Pope Francis is a good pope, let’s hope that he makes it. Let us hope," said a choked-up Filomena Ferraro, who was visiting a relative at Gemelli on Monday. “We are joining him with our prayers but what else can we do?”

Doctors have warned that the main threat facing Francis is sepsis, a serious infection that can occur as a complication of pneumonia. To date there has been no reference to any onset of sepsis in the medical updates provided by the Vatican.

At 10 full days, this hospitalization now stands as Francis' longest as pope. He spent 10 days at Rome’s Gemelli hospital in 2021 after he had 33 centimeters (13 inches) of his colon removed.

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This story has been corrected to say that doctors detected early stages of kidney insufficiency, not failure.

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