Advisers say pope will recover from illness and a ‘new stage’ is opening for him

Pope Francis is recovering well from pneumonia and that a “new stage” in his pontificate would open, two of his closest advisers have said.

It came as the 88-year-old pontiff approached five weeks in hospital.

Archbishop Edgar Pena Parra told The Associated Press that he had found Francis in good humour and serene during the three times he has visited him at the Gemelli hospital in Rome.

Archbishop Pena Parra, who is the Vatican chief of staff, visited Francis on February 24, March 2 and March 9 along with the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the only Vatican officials who have visited him aside from his personal secretaries.

“I found him well, serene, in good humour, and — just like him — tough with the desire to go forward,” he said.

The Vatican press office reported on Friday that Francis’s overall condition remained stable, with slight improvements as he continues respiratory and physical physiotherapy.

He was continuing to reduce his reliance on high-flow supplemental oxygen he has needed to breathe during the day and no longer needs the mechanical ventilation mask at night.

Cardinal Fernandez, the Argentine theologian whom Francis brought in as the Vatican’s doctrine chief, said that he had been in touch with Francis since he was taken to hospital on February 14 and was heartened that he had stabilised.

He provided no timeframe on when Francis might be released, but ruled out any thought that he might resign.

He said that he understood that Francis was responding well to treatment, but that doctors were keeping him at the hospital “to be 100%”.

He said that Francis needed rehabilitation therapy to help him regain strength to speak after so many weeks on non-invasive mechanical ventilation and supplemental oxygen.

“I don’t know what swearwords they used (to tell him) you have to go there, otherwise we go home and end our relationship here,” he said.

As a result, he said he knew that being in hospital had been hard on Francis and had surely made him reflect.

“I think a new stage is opening for him. He is a man of surprises, who will surely have learned so many things in this month and he’ll pull who knows what out of the hat,” he said.

“So even knowing that this has been a very heavy effort for him, a difficult time, I know it will be fruitful for the church and for the world.”

Francis marked five weeks in hospital on Friday. A bad case of bronchitis had developed into a complex lung infection and double pneumonia. He has long battled respiratory illnesses and had part of one lung removed when he was a young man. He has admitted to being a bad patient and is a known workaholic.

“He wants to spend what little time he has left and says ‘I want to use it and not to take care of myself’,” Cardinal Fernandez said. “And then what happens? He comes back here and it’s not easy for him to follow the advice” of doctors.

That might change after this experience, he said.

“He has to certainly change, but I can’t say what those details might be,” he said.