Pope Francis is responding well to treatment and has shown a «gradual, mild improvement» in recent days as he remains in the hospital recovering from double pneumonia, the Vatican said Sunday.

«The night was quiet; the Pope is resting,» the Vatican said in a statement.

Francis, 88, was admitted to Rome’s Gemelli Hospital on Feb. 14 after a week-long bout of bronchitis worsened. Doctors first diagnosed the complex viral, bacterial and fungal respiratory tract infection and subsequently the onset of pneumonia in both lungs.

POPE FRANCIS SHOWS ‘SLIGHT IMPROVEMENT’ DURING FOURTH WEEK IN HOSPITAL, VATICAN SAYS

This is the fourth Sunday in a row that the pope will not appear for his weekly noon blessing, but the Vatican plans to distribute the message he would have delivered.

The pope’s condition has remained stable, as he has had no fever and good oxygen levels in his blood for several days, doctors said. The doctors said that his stability «as a consequence testifies to a good response to therapy.»

This marks the first time doctors have reported that Francis, who has chronic lung disease and had part of one lung removed when he was younger, was responding well to the prescribed therapies since he was admitted to the hospital more than three weeks ago.

Pope Francis waves from his popemobile after the weekly Angelus prayers, at Saint Peter’s Square in the Vatican on October 20, 2024. (Filippo Monteforte/AFP/Getty)

But his prognosis remains «guarded,» doctors said, meaning he is not yet out of danger.

Despite Francis’ absence, the Vatican’s daily operations continued alongside celebrations of its Holy Year, the once-every-quarter-century Jubilee that brings pilgrims from around the world to Rome. The Holy Year is celebrating volunteers this weekend, and many are extending their pilgrimage to pray for Francis outside the hospital.

POPE FRANCIS CONTINUES TO REST IN HOSPITAL AS VATICAN’S HOLY YEAR PROCEEDS WITHOUT HIM

Pope Francis attends a mass at the Esplanade of Tasitolu in Dili, East Timor, on September 10, 2024. (Tiziana Fabi/Pool/AFP/Getty)

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Canadian Cardinal Michael Czerny will preside over the Holy Year Mass on Sunday for the volunteers.

The pope has been using high flows of supplemental oxygen to help him breathe during the day and a noninvasive mechanical ventilation mask at night.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

It is one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a woman – or a Christian. Disease is rampant, and children as young as 4 are being forced to work in mines.

The Democratic Republic of Congo is 95% Christian, yet the faithful are being targeted by jihadists. Just last month, Islamist ADF terrorists, who want the eastern part of the country to become a Muslim Caliphate, rounded up 70 Christians and beheaded them – in a church.

Women are under threat too. According to the U.N., 895 cases of rape were reported in the last two weeks of February alone – an average of more than 60 a day.

In the east, «Sexual violence and human rights abuses remain rampant, as is the looting and destruction of civilian homes and businesses,» Patrick Eba, deputy director of UNHCR’s Division of International Protection, said this week.

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Eba added that «hundreds of thousands of people (are) on the move», fleeing the violence, with many crossing into neighboring countries.

Over 150 women inmates were raped, and many of them then burned to death, in Goma in October last year. As M23 rebels advanced on the city, prison guards at the local jail fled. Hundreds of male inmates are said to have jumped over a wall and raped the women, before escaping.

The sick are also at risk. Earlier this week, the U.N. humanitarian affairs coordination office (OCHA) reported that armed men had raided at least two hospitals in North Kivu’s capital Goma, abducting dozens of patients. 

Disease also stalks people – with three mystery «outbreaks» in the past six months in the DRC. In the latest, the World Health Organization stated late last month that 60 have died and a further 1,318 have shown symptoms of suffering from an as yet unidentified serious illness in Equateur Province.

Internally displaced civilians from the camps in Munigi and Kibati carry their belongings as they flee following the fight between M23 rebels and the armed forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in Goma, on Jan. 26, 2025. (Reuters/Aubin Mukoni)

The agency said the disease spreads through the body fast «with a median time from onset of symptoms to death of one day.» Tests for Ebola and the Marburg virus have come back negative so far.

In the Eastern Kivu provinces of the DRC, hundreds of thousands have been displaced, as rebel groups, often foreign-backed, push back government troops in a war «playing out in one of the poorest regions of earth,» analyst Frans Cronje told Fox News Digital, adding, «Thousands have been killed, disease pandemics are commonplace, (and) women live under the constant fear of rape and abuse.» 

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Boys working at a mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo. (ILO/UNICEF)

«The conflict in the DRC is essentially about control of critical minerals», Cronje, an advisor for the Yorktown Foundation for Freedom, continued. «Scores of rebel groups and some state actors are engaged in the conflict. The two Kivu provinces contain vast deposits of these minerals that could be used in applications from defense and AI to green energy.»

Bill Roggio, senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) and editor of the Long War Journal, told Fox News Digital, «I would argue that the minerals are only partially, or even tangentially, related. The main violence plaguing Congo runs from regional political issues, like Rwanda/M23 (rebel group), to ethnic like CODECO, (an association of militia groups) to religious, like Islamic State Central Africa Province, aka ADF, (rebel group) to just general localized banditry. And some groups do control and make money from artisanal mines, but not all.»

And, for more than a decade, children in some DRC areas have faced extreme exploitation and abuse, reportedly from China, forced to mine deep underground in its quest for metals such as cobalt. An estimated 70% of the world’s cobalt is produced in the DRC, according to Michigan State University’s Global Edge Research Organization. China is said to either own, or co-own with the DRC’s government, 80% of the DRC’s cobalt mines.

Red Cross workers clear the area in Bukavu, east Congo’s second-largest city, one day after it was taken by M23 rebels, on Feb. 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Janvier Barhahiga)

This modern-day child slavery continues despite outcry. A report to a joint House and Senate Committee in November 2023 stated that the DRC «is a country that has been brutally pillaged throughout history, fueled by corrupt men’s unquenchable thirst for power, riches, land, rubber, copper, palm oil, and now cobalt, all at the expense of innocent women, men, and children.» 

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«Children as young as 4 are forced to mine cobalt, «Jason Isaac told Fox News Digital last year. Isaac is the founder and CEO of the American Energy Institute. 

The FDD’s Bill Roggio told Fox News Digital there are steps the Trump administration could take, «from counter-terrorism against one of IS’ most active global branches (ISCAP) to walking back a potential massive regional war, or even to improving good governance, a more stable, secure and prosperous Congo would do wonders for the global economy and regional security.»

The mother of Alon Ohel, a hostage taken from the Nova Music Festival Oct. 7, 2023, who remains in Hamas captivity, is pleading for her son’s release after the first phase of the ceasefire concluded last week, but no new deal for a second phase has yet been reached. 

«I think every mother in this world, if they just stopped for a second, would [they] even be able to breathe, knowing that their son or daughter have eaten dinner, are not getting any food – they’re being starved, chained and in bad condition,» Idit Ohel  told Fox News Digital. 

«Would they be able to just do anything?  It’s unbearable. It’s just unbearable.» 

AFTER TRUMP THREAT, HAMAS REFUSES TO RELEASE MORE HOSTAGES WITHOUT PHASE 2 CEASEFIRE DEAL

Alon and 58 others, including one individual taken separately from the Oct. 7 attacks, remains a hostage after 518 days since the October 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel.

During the attack, Alon hid in a bomb shelter outside the Nova music festival and was injured when shrapnel hit his right eye. 

Footage shared with Fox News Digital showed the harrowing state he and others were in during the attack and their subsequent abduction. 

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According to Israelis who were held hostage with Alon, his injury was never properly treated, and he is now at risk of going blind in both eyes, Idit explained.

Alon was confirmed last month to still be alive after the release of three hostages who were held with him. He is now believed to be held on his own.

«I have no idea where Allen is right now, but I do know as a mother that I’m frightened for him, and I know that he needs to be back as soon as possible. It’s urgent,» Idit explained to Fox News Digital. 

Idit Ohel, the mother of Israeli Serbian citizen Alon Ohel, who is being held hostage in Gaza by Hamas, holds a portrait of her son during a news conference at the Palace of Serbia in Belgrade Sept. 11, 2024.  (Oliver Bunic/AFP via Getty Images)

President Donald Trump this week met with hostages released from Gaza who told the president they believed he had «been sent by God» to secure their release.

Idit, who is Israeli, has not heard from either the Trump administration or from Netanyahu’s office.

But she believes Trump will help to return her son.

«I know that Trump can bring my son home. I know this because he has the power to do it. And when he wants something, he does it,» Idit said. «I’m rooting for him.

«I came all the way from Israel to D.C. to make sure that I’m heard, that Alon is heard,» she added. «I’m advocating for him. Alon is being held. He can’t speak.»

News this week revealed the Trump administration was directly communicating with Hamas to secure the release of five American hostages still held in Gaza, including the only surviving American, Edan Alexander.

Reports also noted that the administration was directly negotiating with the terrorist organization, an unprecedented move that has reportedly frustrated Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, to try to secure a 60-day ceasefire in exchange for the release of 10 hostages.

But there are 25 hostages still believed to be alive, including Ohel.

The family of Alon Ohel, who was taken hostage by Hamas Oct. 7, 2023, continues to fight for his release.  (Idit Ohel)

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In a direct message to her son, Idit said, «We pray for you, and I am doing everything in my power to make sure that you are not forgotten. 

«You are not forgotten,» she added. «People here think about you every day, and they want to save you and want to bring you back home. 

«Your father and I, and your sister and your brother, are with you all the time.»