Pope Francis ‘gradually improving’ and working in hospital amid treatment for respiratory infection

The Vatican has released an update on Pope Francis’ health following his hospitalization in Rome.

Pope Francis was hospitalized on Wednesday difficulty breathing recently and tests revealed a respiratory inspection.

“His Holiness Pope Francis had a good night’s rest,” Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said. “The clinical picture is progressively improving and the planned treatments are being continued.”

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Concerns began to grow during a regularly scheduled audience on Wednesday, when Francis appeared to be in relatively good shape but grimaced as he got in and out of the ‘popemobile’.

The pope is eating and praying regularly again, according to the Vatican, and will resume his work on a limited basis once he recovers.

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“He read some newspapers after breakfast this morning and went back to work,” Bruni said.

St. Peter’s Basilica Vatican, Rome Italy (Fox News Photo/Joshua Comins)

He added: “Before lunch he went to the small chapel of the private apartment, where he gathered for prayer and received the Eucharist.”

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Francis canceled all audiences until Friday. It is not yet clear whether Francis will stick to the Holy Week plans.

Pope Francis is 86 years old and has a complicated medical history that requires regular treatment by Vatican doctors.

Pope Francis meets children at the end of his weekly general audience in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican, Wednesday, March 29, 2023. Pope Francis went to a hospital in Rome on Wednesday for some previously scheduled tests and slipped out of the Vatican after his general audience and ahead of the busy start of Holy Week this Sunday. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

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He was last hospitalized while spending 10 days at the Gemelli in July 2021 and having 12 inches of his colon removed.

The Pope sent a papal telegram to the Diocese of Nashville in Tennessee on Wednesday after a school shooting that devastated the city.

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Pope Francis conducts his weekly general audience in St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City, Vatican. ((Photo by Alessandra Benedetti – Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images))

“His Holiness Pope Francis is deeply saddened by the recent shooting at the Covenant School in Nashville and asks that you extend his heartfelt condolences and the assurances of his prayers to all who have been affected by this senseless act of violence,” the telegram said .

The message ended with the words: “He also invokes the comfort and strength of the Holy Spirit for the grieving families and prays that they will be strengthened in their faith in the power of the risen Lord to heal every pain and bring good out of untold evil make. “