By Reuters
Pope Francis in a stable condition. Photo: Vincenzo Pinto/AFP/Getty Images via CNN Newsource
Pope Francis remained in a stable condition throughout the day on Wednesday, local time, with no new breathing attacks, according to the Vatican.
It said the pontiff carried out some work and had spent much of the day in an armchair.
The last time Francis had been able to work was on February 27.
The 88-year-old also celebrated the start of the Lent religious season from his hospital suite, it said.
On Monday, Francis suffered what the Vatican described as two episodes of "acute respiratory insufficiency", but has had no repeat of this since then.
He has been struggling to overcome double pneumonia with a severe respiratory infection in the hospital for almost three weeks.
Doctors reiterated that his prognosis was "guarded", meaning he was not yet out of danger.
The Vatican added that Francis would be reconnected to non-invasive mechanical ventilation overnight after it was removed during the day.
When he is not on mechanical ventilation - a medical method to push air into the lungs without requiring a patient to be sedated - the pope receives a high-flow of oxygen via a small nasal hose under his nose.
For the first time since February 24, the Vatican said the pope had made a call to the Catholic parish in Gaza, which he has done frequently during the Israel-Hamas war.
The pope has experienced several bouts of ill health over the last two years and is prone to lung infections because he had pleurisy as a young adult and had part of one lung removed.
Double pneumonia is a serious infection in both lungs that can inflame and scar them, making it difficult to breathe.
- Reuters
