Battling with double pneumonia, Pope Francis calls Gaza priest

Pope Francis, hospitalised in critical condition with pneumonia in both lungs, was showing a "slight improvement", the Vatican said Monday, while cautioning that doctors would not offer a prognosis.

Amid global concern over the 88-year-old's health, the Vatican said in its evening bulletin that "the critical clinical conditions of the Holy Father demonstrate a slight improvement." 

"In the evening he called the priest in the Gaza parish to express his fatherly closeness,” the Vatican said in a statement.

Francis has been video-calling Gabriele Romanelli, the priest leading the Catholic community at the church in Gaza, and his assistant, Yusuf Asad, via WhatsApp almost every night since Israel's war on Gaza began.