Hospitalised pope to skip Angelus prayer for second Sunday

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis will miss the Angelus prayer on Sunday for the second straight week as the 88-year-old is treated in hospital for pneumonia, the Vatican said Saturday.

The text will only be published, not read out, as it was last Sunday, spokesman Matteo Bruni said.

One of the doctors treating Pope Francis said on Friday the 88-year-old, who has pneumonia, was "not out of danger" and would likely stay in hospital "at least all next week".

Professor Sergio Alfieri said the pontiff's condition was "slightly better", made clear he was not hooked up to any machine -- and said Francis was cracking jokes.

"The question is, is the pope out of danger? No, the pope is not out of danger," he told a press conference at Rome's Gemelli hospital, where Francis was admitted on February 14 with breathing difficulties.

What began as bronchitis developed into double pneumonia, causing widespread alarm.

"If we send him to Santa Marta (his home at the Vatican), he'll start working again as before," Alfieri continued.

"So we're keeping him here. Right now, he's in the hospital, at least for all next week.

"We're keeping him here so that when he goes back to Santa Marta, it'll be harder for him to overdo it."

Francis, admitted to Rome's Gemelli hospital with breathing difficulties, has slightly improved over the past couple of days despite pneumonia in both lungs, according to the Vatican.

Francis has disappeared from public view since his admittance to a special papal suite on the 10th floor of the Gemelli.

The Vatican said he is cheerful and has been alternating rest with reading, but has yet to publish the standard photographs of him in hospital that have marked his previous stays, fuelling rumours.

Francis -- who had part of one of his lungs removed as a young man, making him more prone to respiratory diseases -- has undergone hernia as well as colon surgery in the past four years.

He is overweight and suffers constant hip and knee pain, which force him to use a wheelchair most of the time.

"I love this Pope immensely", Gege Gerald, a deacon from Switzerland, told AFP in St Peter's Square, summing up the feelings of many faithful.

"I know he has done a lot of good for the Church, and he will do even more", he said.

Italian Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi told the Corriere della Sera on Friday he did not rule out Francis stepping down.

"Francis himself has said he had already signed a letter of resignation at the beginning of his pontificate," he said.

The fact that "a fundamental vital function such as breathing" was compromised complicates the matter, Ravasi told the paper.

"The knee is one thing, but if one feels that the entire body is in difficulty, it's another thing."

French Cardinal Jean-Marc Aveline also said that while "completely confident in the lucidity of the pope", he would not rule out a resignation.

"If he considers that it is the best thing for the good of the Church, he will do it," he told journalists on Thursday.

But Cardinal Jean Claude Hollerich of Luxembourg said Francis certainly would not bow to pressure from his opponents to quit.

"The resignation will depend on how the pope recovers. The decision is up to Francis alone", he was quoted by AGI news agency as saying.

And rumours the pope was far sicker than believed were "fake news", Ravi said.

Whether or not he is contemplating retirement, Francis's "great desire is to at least complete the Jubilee", which began in December and is a year of Catholic celebrations, Ravasi said.

"He feels it is his great moment", he said.