VATICAN CITY -Pope Francis is still critically ill as he battles double pneumonia, but his condition has shown a "slight improvement", the Vatican said on Monday. The 88-year-old pontiff is spending his 11th night in Rome's Gemelli Hospital,

Pope Francis, in hospital in a critical condition with pneumonia in both lungs, passed a good night and was resting, the Vatican said today.

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, will lead a public recitation of the rosary at 9 p.m. Feb. 24 in St. Peter’s Square.

Sister Raffaella Petrini, an Italian nun, was named president of the Vatican City State, the 44-hectare (108-acre) territory in Rome that is home to the Catholic Church

The Vatican reported a “slight improvement” in the Pope’s condition on Monday evening, though it continued to describe his situation as “critical”.

Pope Francis remained in critical condition Monday but showed slight improvement in laboratory tests and resumed some work activities, including calling a parish in Gaza City that he has kept in touch with since the war there began,

Many who know him said that Francis, driven by a sense of mission and a discipline born of his early training, essentially worked himself into the hospital.

Pope Francis, hospitalized in critical condition with pneumonia in both lungs, was showing a "slight improvement", the Vatican said Monday, while cautioning that doctors would not offer a prognosis. Amid global concern over the 88-year-old's health,

The slight kidney insufficiency detected on Sunday was not causing current alarm, doctors said, but they were guarded on his prognosis.