From PBS NewsHour.

Pope Francis thanked well-wishers "from the bottom of my heart" for their prayers as he remains hospitalized for double pneumonia.

His comments came in the form of an audio message played for those gathered Thursday in St. Peter’s Square to pray for the 88-year-old pope as finishes his third full week of treatment at Gemelli Hospital in Rome.

The Vatican said Francis remained stable and had no new "episodes of respiratory insufficiency." Given stability of the pope’s clinical condition, the Vatican said the next health update will be released Saturday.

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