Cindy Wooden

Immediately before leaving Rome's Gemelli hospital after more than five weeks of treatment for breathing difficulties, double pneumonia and infections, Pope Francis greeted hundreds of people who gathered outside the hospital March 23.

Pope Francis no longer needs the "noninvasive mechanical ventilation" he has used most nights since experiencing a breathing "crisis" Feb. 28, his doctors reported in a bulletin released by the Vatican press office March 19.

Britain's King Charles III and Queen Camilla confirmed their plans to meet at the Vatican with Pope Francis in early April in an announcement March 18.

For the first time since Pope Francis was hospitalized in mid-February, the Vatican press office released a photograph of him March 16; the image shows him concelebrating Mass that morning in the chapel of his suite of rooms at Rome's Gemelli hospital.

As the United States continues to attempt to broker a ceasefire deal between Russia and Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he spoke with the Vatican secretary of state.

Pope Francis' condition continues to be stable and a chest x-ray "confirmed the improvements recorded in the previous days," his doctors said, but without saying his double pneumonia had cleared up completely.

As Pope Francis prepared to spend the 12th anniversary of his election at Rome's Gemelli hospital, people at the Vatican and around the world were responding to his most frequent personal request.

On his 21st day in Rome's Gemelli hospital, Pope Francis recorded a 27-second audio message thanking people for their prayers.

The journey of Lent "unfolds amid the remembrance of our fragility and the hope that, at the end of the road, the Risen Lord is waiting for us," Pope Francis wrote in his homily for Ash Wednesday.

Pope Francis' condition remained "stable" March 2, and he "did not require non-invasive mechanical ventilation, but only high-flow oxygen therapy," the Vatican said in its evening medical bulletin.