Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni issued a new update after confirming late Wednesday that new blood tests showed a “slight improvement” in some inflammation indices for the 88-year-old pontiff, who had an acute case of pneumonia in 2023 and is prone to respiratory infections in winter.

Pope Francis, who has been in the hospital for just over two weeks fighting double pneumonia, is in a stable condition and has not had further breathing crises after a health setback the day before, the Vatican said on Saturday.