Pope Francis rested well overnight and was “progressively improving” on Thursday after being admitted to hospital with a respiratory infection, the Vatican has said.
The 86-year-old – who had part of one lung removed as a young man – ate breakfast, read the newspapers and was working from his room at Rome’s Gemelli hospital, according to a statement from spokesman Matteo Bruni.
“Before lunch he went to the little chapel in the private apartment, where he gathered in prayer and received the Eucharist,” the statement said.
Francis was taken to hospital on Wednesday after suffering breathing problems in recent days and was diagnosed with a respiratory infection, though not Covid-19.
The Vatican said he would remain for a few days of treatment, and his audiences were cancelled until the weekend.
Francis is scheduled to celebrate Palm Sunday this weekend, and it is not clear how his medical condition will affect the Vatican’s Holy Week observances, which include Holy Thursday, Good Friday, the Easter Vigil and Easter Sunday on April 9.
His hospital admission was the first since Francis had 13in of colon removed and spent 10 days at the hospital in July 2021.
He said soon after the surgery that he had recovered fully and could eat normally, but in a January interview with the Associated Press, Francis said his diverticulosis, or bulges in the intestinal wall, had “returned”.
Before he was admitted to hospital on Wednesday, the Pope had appeared in relatively good form during his regular general audience, though he grimaced strongly while getting in and out of the “popemobile”.
Francis has used a wheelchair for more than a year due to strained ligaments in his right knee and a small knee fracture, although he had been walking more with a cane of late.
He has said he resisted having surgery for the knee problems because he did not respond well to general anaesthesia during the 2021 intestinal surgery.
