Pope Francis is not considered to be in imminent danger from the infection he arrived to the hospital with, a Vatican source said on Monday.
Francis was admitted to Rome’s Gemelli Hospital in mid-February and has been battling pneumonia in both of his lungs.
For the first time since his hospitalization, the Vatican said doctors have decided to lift the prognosis, citing improvements in his clinical situation.
But the pope’s clinical condition is still “complex” and he is not entirely out of danger, the source said.
A Vatican source said there is no timeline for his release from the hospital, and that Francis is continuing to receive the same oxygen therapy he has been receiving over the past few days.
According to the Vatican on Monday, the pope was able to remotely take part in the spiritual exercises – where leaders of the Vatican gather in a hall listen to reflections and spend time in prayer – taking place at the Vatican for Lent. He also received the Eucharist and went to the chapel at the hospital for prayer.
Earlier on Monday the Vatican said the pope was continuing “motor and respiratory” therapy prescribed by doctors and is eating solids.
The 88-year-old pontiff is alternating between non-invasive mechanical ventilation at night, in which oxygen is delivered through a mask, and high-flow oxygen therapy through nasal cannulas during the day, it said.
The Vatican added that the pope is aware about the flooding in the Argentine port city of Bahía Blanca, where more than a dozen people have died and over a thousand people have been evacuated, according to local authorities.
“He is close to the suffering of the people affected,” the Vatican said of Francis, who was born in Argentina’s capital of Buenos Aires and who served as the city’s archbishop before his election as pope.
Over the weekend, a Vatican source said Francis was showing a good response to treatment for the first time since his hospitalization. He was showing “a good response to therapy” and a “gradual, slight improvement” since his episodes of acute respiratory failure last week, the Vatican said Saturday.
Uncertainty and anxiety have continued to swirl in the Vatican throughout Francis’ extended hospital stay. He released a pre-recorded audio message last Thursday thanking his supporters for their prayers.
