Pope ‘progressively improving’ after being admitted to hospital with infection

Pope Francis is helped to get into his car at the end of the weekly general audience in St. Peter’s Square, at the Vatican, Wednesday, March 29, 2023. Pope Francis went to a Rome hospital on Wednesday for some previously scheduled tests, slipping out of the Vatican after his general audience and before the busy start of Holy Week this Sunday. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Pope Francis rested well overnight and was “progressively improving” on Thursday after being admitted to hospital with a respiratory infection, the Vatican has said.

The 86-year-old – who had part of one lung removed as a young man – ate breakfast, read the newspapers and was working from his room at Rome’s Gemelli hospital, according to a statement from spokesman Matteo Bruni.