Pope Francis is showing improvement, is alert and doing some work, the Vatican said, as the 88-year-old pontiff began his eighth day in hospital battling pneumonia.
Vatican spokesperson Matteo Bruni said in a brief update on Friday that Francis had slept well overnight and was able to eat breakfast.
A Vatican official, who did not wish to be named because he was not authorised to speak about the pope’s condition, said that Francis was breathing on his own, without help of any machines.
The pope was able to move around his hospital room, was taking some phone calls and was continuing to do some paperwork, the official said.
Meanwhile Vatican sources said the pope is continuing to meet with his closest aides and to carry out some work.
He spends part of his time in bed and part in an armchair and breathes autonomously, the sources explained.
Vatican Press Office Director Matteo Bruni said on Friday that “the modalities of Sunday’s Angelus have not been decided yet”.
No hypothesis has been ruled out, including that the pontiff could deliver a written text, such as last Sunday.
In the text of his Angelus address last Sunday, the pope thanked the health professionals treating him in Rome’s Agostino Gemelli hospital and said he needed therapy.
The 88-year-old Argentine pontiff did not read out the address because doctors have said he needs absolute rest.
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