As he begins his fourth week in a Rome hospital, Pope Francis is showing a "gradual" improvement, the Vatican said. Pope Francis is responding well to treatment at a Rome hospital for pneumonia, the Vatican said Saturday,

Pope Francis, who has been in hospital for 10 days now, is critical with mild signs of kidney failure. There is growing speculation about the 88-year-old pontiff’s successor. Who could it be?

Pope Francis on Monday received a visit from Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, and the Substitute for General Affairs Mons. Edgar Pena Parra at Rome's Agostino Gemelli Hospital, the Vatican press office said in a bulletin on Tuesday.

As members of the Roman Curia gather nightly to pray for Pope Francis’s health and recovery, they are doing so while seemingly ignoring his reforms, particularly on the issue of women and their inclusion in leadership.

A Vatican statement said doctors decided to keep Francis’s prognosis guarded, meaning he is not out of danger.

The Vatican has set in motion nightly prayers for Pope Francis in the hope that he might recover and get back to leading the Catholic Church.

Pope Francis entered his fourth week in hospital with double pneumonia on Saturday, increasingly handing off his day-to-day duties.