Star Metro - Ailing pope resting amid slight improvement: Vatican

The Argentine pontiff was admitted to Rome's Gemelli hospital on February 14 with breathing difficulties and bronchitis but his condition has subsequently worsened and faithful around the world have been praying for his recovery.

"The Pope rested well, all night long," said the Vatican in a morning update on the 12th day of the pope's hospital stay.

The Holy See issued a more hopeful statement Monday evening, saying that the pope's "critical clinical conditions... demonstrate a slight improvement".

It said Francis had suffered no respiratory attacks like one on Saturday that required "high-flow oxygen". It said some laboratory tests had improved.

But the pope remains "a fragile patient," as his doctor Luigi Carbone stated Friday, and his medical team have cautioned that it will take time for his drug treatments to show a positive effect.

"Considering the complexity of the clinical picture," his doctors have declined to "decide on the prognosis," the Vatican said Monday.

Francis, who has a special papal suite on the 10th floor of the hospital, has continued to do some work, has moved from his bed to an armchair, and received the Eucharist in the morning.

Hundreds of faithful gathered under rain showers in St Peter's Square on Monday evening, as dozens of cardinals recited prayers for Francis.

Honduran Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga -- a former coordinator of the pope's Council of Cardinals -- told La Repubblica daily he felt hopeful that the pope would pull through.

"It's not yet time for him to go to heaven," Maradiaga said.

"He is someone who does not back down in the face of difficulty, does not get discouraged, does not freeze, and does not stop moving forward," he told the paper.

- 'Breath of fresh air' -

Well-wishers have left candles and photos outside the hospital, where a special prayer Monday was led by Gemelli's chaplain.

In Buenos Aires -- where the former Jorge Bergoglio served as archbishop before being made pope in 2013 -- hundreds of Argentines prayed for the pontif.

Speaking in the plaza where Bergoglio used to rail against injustice and inequality, Archbishop Jorge Garcia Cuerva called Francis's papacy "a breath of oxygen for a world suffocated by violence, suffocated by selfishness, suffocated by exclusion."

"Let our prayer be that breath of fresh air that reaches his lungs so that he can recover his health," he said.

Special prayers for Francis will be celebrated Tuesday evening at an Argentine church in Rome.

Messages of support have also come from world leaders.

At the White House Monday, US President Donald Trump called the pope's health "a very serious situation".

"But we do want him to get well if that's possible," Trump told reporters as he met France's President Emmanuel Macron.

In Venezuela, President Nicolas Maduro said he had sent the pope a letter "expressing all our admiration," calling Francis "the ethical leader of humanity... loved by all religions".

- Recovery time -

Doctors have cautioned that any recovery will take time and that Francis's hospitalisation will likely extend beyond this week.

The pope, who had part of one lung removed as a young man, has increasingly suffered health complications in recent years. He is prone to bronchitis, is overweight and suffers knee and hip pain that has led to his reliance on a wheelchair.

It takes a young person at least two weeks to get over double pneumonia, Massimo Andreoni, scientific director of the Italian Society of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, told La Stampa daily.

"For an older person like Pope Francis, with all the added complications... you have to wait even longer for a complete recovery," Andreoni said.

W.Richard--SMC