He’s had no more episodes of spasms or fever and is now feeding himself once again and has been continuing respiratory physiotherapy, the Vatican confirmed.
The pope, 88, has also now spent ‘long periods’ off his ventilator which means he is on less intense high-flow supplemental oxygen.
But his prognosis is still heavily guarded.
The Vatican said: ‘The Holy Father is always vigilant and aware of what is going on around him.’
He also received the Eucharist and spent 20 minutes in prayer in the private chapel down the hall from his 10th floor hospital room.
This good news comes after he suffered a setback on Friday in his two-week battle against pneumonia.
He had a coughing fit where he also swallowed some vomit.
Doctors sucked out the pope’s vomit and put a mask on him that pumped oxygen into his lungs.
Because of this, he suffered a ‘sudden worsening of the respiratory picture’.
He remained conscious and alert at all times and co-operated with what the doctors were doing.
The pope currently has lung disease and was admitted to hospital on February 14 after a bout of bronchitis worsened and turned into pneumonia in both lungs.
Despite his improvements, Francis’ near-term upcoming calendar of events is being changed.
The Vatican cancelled a Holy Year audience scheduled for today, and it remains to be seen if Francis will miss his Sunday noon blessing for the third week in a row.
In past years, when Francis has battled bronchitis and influenza in winter, he curbed his participation in Ash Wednesday and Holy Week events, which call for the pope to be outdoors in the cold leading services, participating in processions and presiding over prayers in the solemn period in which the faithful commemorate Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection.
Beyond that, Francis has a few major events coming up that he presumably would hope to keep if well enough.
On April 27, he is due to canonize Carlo Acutis, considered to be the first millennial and digital-era saint.
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