VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Francis continues to show small signs of improvement and spends his days following through on all his therapies, doing some light work and praying, according to the Vatican press office.
"His medical condition remains stable with some small improvements" regarding his mobility and breathing capacity, it said in an evening briefing.
The pope is following a daily regime made up of pharmacological, respiratory and physical therapies, which are yielding positive results, the press office said March 21. He has not needed nighttime mechanical ventilation through a mask after it was suspended the night of March 17-18, it said March 21. Instead, he has been receiving high-flow oxygen through a nasal tube overnight.
The press office also noted as a positive sign that the 88-year-old pope is maintaining a reduced need for the "high-flow oxygen therapy" through a nasal tube during the day.
Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, told reporters a "new stage" of the pontificate has begun.
"He is the man of surprises, right?" he told reporters during a book presentation in Rome March 21.
Since the pope was hospitalized Feb. 14 for respiratory difficulty and infections, "Surely he will have learned many things this past month and who knows what will come forth?" he said.
Even knowing that this has been difficult and very burdensome for him, he said, "I know that it will be fruitful for the church and for the world."
Asked whether the pope would be out of the hospital in time for Easter April 20, the cardinal said, "he could be back, but the doctors want to be 100% sure and they prefer to wait a bit longer."
It's a well-known fact that the pope "wants to give it his all," Cardinal Fernández said, and that "the little time he has left he wants to use, not nursing himself."
The cardinal has not been among the very few people who have been able to visit the pope, but he said the pope is now doing "very well" physically, "almost as he was before his illness."
However, as is often the case with patients who have had to be on additional oxygen, they have to "learn how to talk again," that is, regain the strength of their voice.
The pope's doctors, citing his "gradual" improvement, stopped providing daily medical bulletins March 6, the same evening the Vatican released a very brief audio message from Pope Francis thanking people for their prayers.
The last medical bulletin from the pope's doctors was March 19, and the one before that was published March 15, although the Vatican press office continued to provide news each day about the pope's progress and activities in the hospital.
However, because the pope's condition was consistently improving, the press office did not issue a statement March 20 and did not plan to provide any over the weekend -- March 22 and 23. The next medical bulletin was not expected before March 24.
Father Armando Nugnes, rector of the Pontifical Urbanian University in Rome, led the evening recitation of the rosary for the pope's health, a recitation that began Feb. 24.
