Vatican News

The office governing Vatican City State was set to have a new president March 1 and, while in the hospital, Pope Francis changed the office's statutes to give the new president two top-level assistants.

Pope Francis' condition showed "further slight improvement" in the previous 24 hours, the Vatican said in its evening medical bulletin Feb. 26.

Pope Francis' "clinical condition remains critical but stable" and the "prognosis remains guarded," the Vatican's evening bulletin said Feb. 25.

Pope Francis' condition has shown a slight improvement, which, however, is still critical, the Vatican said.

Pope Francis' condition remained "critical" the evening of Feb. 23, his doctors said, with blood tests showing "initial, mild renal insufficiency, at present under control."

While Italy's main news agency reported that Pope Francis' respiratory "crisis" had subsided, a Vatican source said he was still receiving supplemental oxygen by nasal cannula early Feb. 23.

Pope Francis experienced "an asthmatic respiratory crisis of prolonged magnitude, which also required the use of oxygen at high flows" Feb. 22, said the daily medical bulletin released by the Vatican.

While Pope Francis' life is not in immediate danger, the level of multiple infections in his lungs means he is not completely "out of danger," said Dr. Sergio Alfieri, director of medical and surgical sciences at Rome's Gemelli hospital.

The Vatican City State's chief prosecutor said he was satisfied with a British court ruling that said a now-convicted financier involved in the Vatican purchase of a London property had not acted in good faith.

On his sixth full day in Rome's Gemelli hospital, "the Holy Father's clinical condition is improving slightly," the Vatican said.