Pope Francis, who is gradually getting better, will not preside over Ash Wednesday services

The Vatican said Friday that Pope Francis is making progress in his fight against double pneumonia, but he will not preside over the annual Church ceremony that will kick off the Christian season of Lent next week.

Francis, 88, was hospitalized to the Gemelli hospital in Rome on February 14 due to a serious lung infection that led to additional difficulties. He has now been there for two weeks.

Although the Vatican has not disclosed the length of Francis’ hospital stay, it did announce on Friday that he will not preside over the customary Ash Wednesday liturgy on March 5, suggesting that he may be in the hospital until the following week.

Instead, a senior Vatican official was tasked with conducting the ceremony, which marks the beginning of the 40-day period leading up to Easter Sunday.

The Vatican said Thursday in a medical report that the pope’s condition “continued to show improvement” but that because of the intricacy of his infection, his prognosis was still cautious.

Thursday’s statement was the second consecutive one that did not characterize the pope’s condition as “critical,” according to a Vatican official who asked not to be named because he was not authorized to discuss the pope’s health.

The official remarked, “Perhaps we can say he has passed the most critical phase.”

The next medical report from the Vatican was anticipated on Friday night.

Francis has continued to govern the Vatican from the hospital. He has been the pope since 2013 and is sometimes characterized as straining himself to exhaustion. Every day, staff appointments that need his approval are revealed.

A papal letter signed by Francis and accompanied by a note stating that it was issued “from Gemelli hospital” was made public by the Vatican on Friday for participants in a Church training session in Rome.

In an interview with the Italian newspaper La Stampa, Cardinal Michael Czerny, who leads the Vatican’s development office, stated that Francis’ recovery was “slower than what we would like.”

Over the past two years, Francis has experienced multiple episodes of illness. Because he had part of one lung removed and had pleurisy as a young adult, he is susceptible to lung infections.

A dangerous infection of both lungs, double pneumonia can cause inflammation and scarring, making breathing difficult. Although there have been no recurrences, the Vatican reported that Francis experienced a “prolonged asthma-like respiratory crisis” on Saturday.