French Cardinal Jean-Marc Aveline at a press conference in the Vatican on Thursday, urged the faithful to pray for Pope Francis.
“He is tired. He is one of those people who has to be taken to hospital if we really want them to get better. Otherwise they never recover,” the influential archbishop of Marseille told journalists.
Francis was admitted to Rome’s Gemelli Hospital on Friday last week. There is currently no indication when he might be discharged. Francis had resisted going to hospital since mid-December, in spite of evident health problems.
Aveline said he had no more precise information and would not engage in speculation. But he also expressed his concern. The 66-year-old cardinal is among the possible successors to Francis.
Earlier on Thursday, the Corriere della Sera newspaper reported that Francis had been in jovial mood when Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni popped in to visit him in hospital where he is fighting off pneumonia in both lungs.
“The doctors have said that I have to watch my health, otherwise I would go straight to heaven,” the 88-year-old pontiff said, according to the report.
“I know that there are people outside there who say my time has come,” he added.
Meloni visited the pope on Wednesday, for an audience lasting around 20 minutes. Her office subsequently reported that Francis had been awake and alert.
“We joked constantly. He has not lost his proverbial sense of humour,” Meloni said after the visit.
The Vatican reported that the pope had spent a sixth restful night in hospital without further complication.
He had got up and taken breakfast in an armchair, the Vatican statement said.
The pope was admitted after falling ill with bronchitis. Concerns grew following a Tuesday update in which the Vatican reported that he was suffering from double pneumonia.
While there are more than 250 cardinals around the world, only 138 of them are under the age threshold of 80 and will participate in the conclave to elect the next pope.
The conclave sits in secrecy in the Sistine Chapel. A plume of white smoke from the chapel’s chimney indicates that a decision has reached.
