Pope Francis remains in critical condition but has showed slight improvement in laboratory tests and resumed some work, the Vatican says, including calling a parish in Gaza City that he has kept in touch with since the war there began.
The Vatican’s evening bulletin is more upbeat than in recent days, as the 88-year-old Francis battles pneumonia in both lungs at Rome’s Gemelli hospital.
Francis is in good spirits, is not in pain and is not receiving artificial nutrition, the Vatican says.
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 say 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 is not causing alarm at the moment, doctors say, while adding his prognosis remains 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 says.
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.
AP
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