Pope has ‘peaceful night’ after his prognosis improves and is lifted

(LONDON and ROME) — The pope rested peacefully overnight after his prognosis was “lifted” on Monday as he begins his 26th straight day in the hospital, the Vatican said.

Vatican sources told ABC News that Francis’ prognosis being lifted means he’s no longer in imminent danger, but the clinical picture still remains complex.

The 88-year-old pontiff will continue “for additional days, the pharmacological medical therapy in a hospital environment” due to the “complexity of the clinical picture and the significant infectious picture presented at hospitalization,” the Vatican said.

“The improvements recorded in previous days have further consolidated, as confirmed by both blood tests and clinical objectivity and the good response to pharmacological therapy. For these reasons, the doctors decided to lift the prognosis,” the Holy See, the Vatican’s press office, said in a statement Monday.

The pope will move back to noninvasive mechanical ventilation and will continue an antibiotic treatment, the Vatican sources said.

Francis’ doctors said there are positive signs of the pontiff’s recovery, but caution remains, according to the Vatican sources.

Francis was admitted to Rome’s Gemelli Hospital on Feb. 14 and was diagnosed with bilateral pneumonia.

Thursday will mark the 12th anniversary of when Pope Francis was voted to succeed Pope Benedict XVI, who previously resigned.

ABC News’ Megan Forrester contributed to this report.

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