Pallade Veneta - Pope's condition 'slightly improving' on seventh day in hospital

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

"The clinical conditions of the Holy Father are slightly improving," the Vatican said in its regular early evening update on Thursday.

"He is apyretic (without fever) and his hemodynamic (blood flow) parameters continue to be stable.

"This morning he received the Eucharist and subsequently devoted himself to his work activities."

The Vatican had a similar message on Wednesday evening, when it said blood tests had also shown a "slight improvement".

Cardinal Matteo Maria Zuppi, head of Italy's bishops conference, had earlier said the pontiff was "on the right path".

"We are all worried about the pope," Zuppi, who has not visited Francis, told reporters.

"The fact that the pope had breakfast, read the newspapers, received people, means that we are on the right path to a full recovery, which we hope will happen soon".

- Angelus uncertain -

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

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

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."

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 (1100 GMT) on Sunday.

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

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

- Heart 'holding up' -

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.

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

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.

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.

- 'Uncertainty -

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.

And while he has insisted recently that quitting is only a "distant possibility", his hospitalisation again revives questions about his ability to fulfil his role.

"We have a pope who is both sick, suffering, but who is alive, who can speak," he told AFP.

"There is an uncertainty that weakens the pope and the Holy See."

N.Tartaglione--PV