The latest statement suggests that the 88-year-old is able to sit in his chair, eat normally and do what the Vatican calls "light work".

Pope Francis’ complex respiratory infection isn't life-threatening but he's not out of danger, his medical team said Friday, as the 88-year-old pontiff marked his first week in the hospital battling pneumonia in both lungs — along with bacterial,

The pope, who had part of one lung removed as a young man, is still receiving high flows of supplemental oxygen to help remove fluid from his lungs.

"The blood tests, evaluated by the medical staff, show a slight improvement, particularly in inflammatory indices," said the Vatican in a statement later on Wednesday. Earlier in the week, the Vatican said medical tests and a chest X-ray showed "a complex picture".

Gandhi’s Scant Garb Bars Audience with Pope.” So read the headline of a New York Times report, from December 13, 1931, that the Vatican had cancelled a meeting between Pius XI and “the Indian nationalist leader” because the Pope thought he might be criticized “if he received the visitor in his usual scanty clothing.

The pope is receiving occasional supplements of oxygen when he needs it and is responding to the strengthened drug therapy he is receiving, they said.

The Vatican carried on with its Holy Year celebrations without the pope Saturday, as Pope Francis battled pneumonia and a complex respiratory infection that doctors say remains touch-and-go and will keep him hospitalized for at least another week.

Like his predecessors, Pope Francis was selected using an age-old method -- a system known as the Papal conclave.

The first World Day of Migrants and Refugees was instituted by Pope Pius X in 1914. Canadian sculptor Timothy P. Schmalz poses next to his sculpture on the theme of refugees and migration, “Angels Unawares,