Pope Francis's health gradually improving after night in hospital

Pope Francis health is gradually improving after he was taken to hospital with a respiratory condition, the Vatican has confirmed.

"His Holiness Pope Francis rested well during the night. The clinical picture is progressively improving and the planned treatments continue. This morning after breakfast, he read some newspapers and went back to work," Vatican spokesperson Matteo Bruni said on a statement.

Taking to Twitter Francis wrote, "I am touched by the many messages received in these hours and I express my gratitude for the closeness and prayer." The pope was taken to Rome's Gemelli hospital for tests on Wednesday afternoon after experiencing difficulty breathing in recent days.

The 86-year-old pope, who had part of one lung removed as a young man, does not have COVID-19 but will remain in the hospital for several days of treatment, the Vatican said. His audiences were cancelled through Friday.

Francis is scheduled to celebrate Palm Sunday this weekend, and it wasn't clear how his medical condition would affect the Vatican's Holy Week observances, which include Holy Thursday, Good Friday, the Easter Vigil and finally Easter Sunday on April 9. His hospitalisation was the first since Francis had 33 centimeters (13 inches) of his colon removed and spent 10 days at the Gemelli hospital in July 2021.

He said soon after the surgery that he had recovered fully and could eat normally. But in a Jan. 24 interview with The Associated Press, Francis said his diverticulosis, or bulges in the intestinal wall, had "returned."

Before he was admitted to the hospital Wednesday, the pope had appeared in relatively good form during his regularly scheduled general audience, though he grimaced strongly while getting in and out of the "popemobile."

Francis has used a wheelchair for over a year due to strained ligaments in his right knee and a small knee fracture, though he had been walking more with a cane of late.

Francis has said he resisted having surgery for the knee problems because he didn't respond well to general anesthesia during the 2021 intestinal surgery.