Pope Francis said in his latest Sunday prayer, issued from his hospital bed, that he faces a ‘period of trial’.
According to his medical team at Gemelli Hospital in Rome, the 88-year-old pontiff is no longer in critical condition, having been admitted to the facility with bronchitis on Friday, Sky News reported.
However his age and lack of mobility means that he remains in a physically vulnerable state.
In his his traditional Sunday Angelus prayer, the Pope added: ‘I am sharing these thoughts with you while I am facing a period of trial, and I join with so many brothers and sisters who are sick: fragile, at this time, like me.
‘Our bodies are weak but, even like this, nothing can prevent us from loving, praying, giving ourselves, being for each other, in faith, shining signs of hope.’
The pope usually delivers the prayer – on the second Sunday of Lent – from a window overlooking St Peter’s Square in front of the Vatican.
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