Despite his critical condition, the leader of the world’s nearly 1.4 billion Catholics has kept up with Church matters from his hospital suite, according to the Vatican.
Now on his 13th day in the hospital, the pope Wednesday was “sitting in a chair, and continuing with the treatment as normal”, a Vatican source said.
The Vatican said he received the Eucharist in the morning and spent his afternoon working.
The current hospitalisation is Francis’s fourth and longest.
The pope, who had part of one of his lungs removed as a young man, has suffered increasing health problems in recent years.
He is prone to bronchitis and suffers from hip and knee pain, which has made him reliant on a wheelchair.
Pilgrims and faithful have been flocking to the Vatican and the Gemelli to pray for Francis, with a fresh round of prayers held in St Peter’s Square later Wednesday evening.
