LAZIO, Rome — The Vatican has disclosed that Pope Francis’ overall clinical condition is “improving slightly” and his heart is working well as he battles pneumonia and some of his cardinals cheered him on and insisted that the Catholic Church was very much alive and well even in his absence.

The 88-year-old Pope has spent the week at the Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli (Gemelli University Hospital) in Lazio, Rome fighting pneumonia in both lungs.

However, despite signs of recovering from his sickness, Italian Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, the former head of the Vatican’s department of cultural affairs, raised the possibility of the Argentine pontiff resigning due to his bout with respiratory infection.

Cardinal Ravasi enthused that the Pope had always been “decisive” and hinted that he might voluntarily step down as head of the Roman Catholic Church if his health restricted his ability to fulfill his duties.
The Cardinal added that Pope Francis had a tendency to “fight,” but if he was no longer able to communicate in an “immediate, incisive and decisive way”, he may consider resigning.

“I think he could do it because he is a person who is quite decisive in his choices,” he said in an interview with Italian radio network RTL.

“He has always had the tendency to fight and react and that is a legitimate choice too, because he has been able to handle trips in very difficult and challenging conditions, like the one in the Far East,” he reiterated, referring to the Pope’s gruelling 20,000-mile trip last year to Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Singapore.

“However, there is no question that if he found himself in a situation where he was compromised in his ability to have direct contact – as he loves to do – to be able to communicate in an immediate, incisive and decisive way, then I believe he might consider resigning.”

Still, Cardinal Matteo Zupi, the head of Italy’s Catholic bishops and Archbishop of Bologna, commented that he was convinced Pope Francis would recover.

“The fact that the Pope had breakfast, read the papers (and) met people indicates that we are heading in the right direction for a full recovery that we hope will happen soon,” Cardinal Zupi said at a church event in Bologna.

Francis has received messages and prayers for a speedy recovery from around the world, including Bartholomew I, the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, with whom he has forged a close relationship over the years.

In a wide-ranging interview he did in 2023 to mark 10 years since he became Pope, the pontiff had remarked that he would step aside if he became too tired or lacked the mental ability to lead the world’s 1.3 billion Catholics.

At the time, he said he felt “old” and humiliated by having to use a wheelchair as a result of acute pain in his knee.