Pope Francis health: Pontiff showing ‘gradual, slight improvement’, says Vatican

Pope Francis health update: In the recent update on Pope Francis' health, the Vatican on Saturday said that the 88-year-old pontiff is responding well to the treatment for double pneumonia and has shown a "gradual, slight improvement". Doctors, however, have indicated that he is not out of danger yet.

Pope has been suffering a chronic lung disease and double pneumonia, a condition that has battered his long health. The Vatican cited doctors as saying that the pontiff has remained stable, with no fever and good oxygen levels in his blood for several days.

The doctors said that such stability "as a consequence testifies to a good response to therapy". According to the Associated Press, this was the first time that the doctors reported that the Pope was responding positively to the treatment for the complex lung infection.

The pontiff was admitted to Rome's Gemelli hospital on February 14 after a week-long battle with bronchitis. According to the Vatican, as the Pope entered the fourth week of being hospitalised, he worked and rested during the day on Saturday.

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“In order to record these initial improvements in the coming days as well, his doctors have prudently maintained the prognosis as guarded,” the statement said.

In the Pope's absence, the Vatican's every day operations have been continuing, with Cardinal Pietro Parolin celebrating Mass for an anti-abortion group in St. Peter's Basilica. Parolin also delivered a message from the Pope at the start of the Mass, saying that there was need to protect life, from birth to natural death.

In his message, dated March 5, Francis sought to provide women with alternatives to abortion and encouraged the faithful to promote anti-abortion activities not just for the unborn, but “for the elderly, no longer independent or the incurably ill.”

Notably, the pontiff has not been seen in public since entering hospital. Pope Francis had suffered four attacks of breathlessness since February 22 and the last was on March 3, caused by a significant accumulation of mucus in his lungs, suggesting he did not have the muscle strength to expel the secretions.

(with AP inputs)