Pope Francis Hits Milestones While Recovering in Hospital

The recovery of Pope Francis from double pneumonia continued Wednesday as he inched toward notching some important milestones in his papacy: The 12th anniversary Thursday of his election as pope and a near-record in hospital stays for a pontiff.

The Vatican said Wednesday that Francis had a quiet night at Rome’s Gemelli hospital.

If the last few days are any guide, the 88-year-old Argentine will likely follow the Vatican’s spiritual retreat remotely while his physical and respiratory therapy continues. The pope’s weekly Wednesday general audience was canceled anyway, since the entire Vatican hierarchy is on retreat this week as part of the Lenten spiritual exercises that have been a mainstay of the Jesuit pope's pontificate.

Doctors have said Francis is making slow, gradual improvements and this week declared that he's no longer in imminent danger of death as a result of the complex respiratory infection he had when he was admitted on Feb. 14. But they remain cautious, given the complexity of his condition and overall fragility, and say he needs to remain hospitalized for an unspecified number of days.

Another medical update was expected later Wednesday.

Thursday marks the 12th anniversary of Francis’ election as the 266th pope. The former Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio was elected on the fifth ballot of the 2013 conclave that was called after Pope Benedict XVI resigned. While Francis has praised Benedict’s humility in stepping down and said that he too might follow in his footsteps, more recently he has said that the papacy is a job for life.

The Holy See hasn’t said how the anniversary, which is a public holiday in the Vatican, might be commemorated this year.

Another milestone comes Friday, when Francis marks four weeks or 28 days of hospitalization. St. John Paul II has the record for a hospital stay, at 55 days in 1981 when he underwent a minor surgical operation and was then treated for a cytomegalovirus infection. Francis is on track to equal the second-longest stay, 28 days, which John Paul recorded in 1994 when he had surgery to repair his right hip joint after he fractured his right femur in a fall, according to Gemelli hospital.

The Vatican has released no photos or video of Francis since he was admitted. The pope recorded an audio message last week to thank people for their prayers, though the weakness and breathlessness of his voice made clear just how frail he was.