Sawt Falasteen - Pope 'sitting up, eating' in seventh day in hospital

The 88-year-old was admitted to Rome's Gemelli hospital last Friday with bronchitis, but it later developed into pneumonia in both lungs, sparking widespread alarm.

In a morning update Thursday, the Vatican said he had spent a peaceful night in hospital, "got up and had breakfast in his armchair".

The evening before, the Vatican said the pope's blood tests had shown a "slight improvement" and his clinical conditions were stable.

Vatican sources said that despite his illness the Argentine pope was still trying to work, reading and signing documents, writing, speaking with colleagues and keeping up with the news.

"We are all worried about the pope," said Cardinal Matteo Maria Zuppi, head of Italy's bishops conference.

But the fact that Francis was eating and meeting people "means that we are on the right path to a full recovery, which we hope will happen soon", he added.

Francis had enough energy on Wednesday to receive Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni for a 20-minute visit at the Gemelli's special papal suite.

She later described him as "alert and responsive", saying in a statement: "We joked as always. He hasn't lost his proverbial sense of humour."

- Angelus uncertain -

The pope has already cancelled his appointments on his calendar this week, including a Saturday audience and Sunday mass at St Peter's Basilica.

But it was still not clear whether the pope would give the traditional Angelus prayer at midday.

Francis missed it last Sunday, but has during previous spells from hospital delivered it from the Gemelli balcony.

"We still don't know how it will work," said Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni on Thursday.

The double-pneumonia diagnosis for the pope comes after a series of health issues in recent years: from colon and hernia surgery to problems walking and pain in his hip and knee.

The Vatican has been issuing regular updates, however banal, in a bid to counter widespread speculation -- particularly online -- that he is dying or even dead.

Wednesday evening's statement pointed to a modest change for the better.

"The blood tests, evaluated by the medical staff, show a slight improvement, particularly in inflammatory indices," read the statement.

Following breakfast, Francis "dedicated himself to work activities with his closest collaborators", it added.

A Vatican source had on Wednesday said the pope was "breathing on his own. His heart is holding up very well".

- 'Confident he'll make it' -

The pope, who has been head of the Catholic Church since 2013, keeps a full schedule despite his age and ailments, and this year is busy with celebrations of the holy Jubilee year.

But in the days before his hospital admission, he was struggling to read his homilies.

The pontiff -- whose birth name is Jorge Bergoglio -- had part of his right lung cut away when he was 21, after developing pleurisy that almost killed him.

Candles, some with pictures of the pope on them, have been set at the bottom of a statue of Pope John Paul II outside the Gemelli hospital.

In St Peter's Square on Thursday, Romanian tourist Suzanna Munteanu told AFP she worried over Francis's health but was "confident that he will make it.

"I love this pope... Pope Bergoglio, very much, and he's very dear to me, especially that he cares for the poor people, and I do hope he will recover very soon," she added.

The pope has left open the option of resigning were he to become unable to carry out his duties, as his predecessor, Benedict XVI, did.

But in a memoir last year Francis said it was just a "distant possibility" that would be justified only in the event of "a serious physical impediment".

"I'm not worried about his lucidity," Aveline said, adding that the pope was "a fighter", in the sense of "his relationship with the Lord and what he understands of what he must do".

G.AbuHamad--SF-PST