Pope Francis marks 12 years as head of the Catholic Church on Thursday, seemingly out of danger after a month in hospital but with his health casting a shadow over his future.
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The 88-year-old was for a time critically ill as he battled pneumonia in both lungs at Rome’s Gemelli hospital, where he was admitted on February 14.
The Argentine’s situation has markedly improved since then, with the Vatican confirming his condition as stable on Wednesday evening, and talk was turning to when he might go home.
But his hospitalisation, the longest and most fraught of his papacy, has raised serious doubts about his ability to lead the world’s nearly 1.4 billion Catholics.
Francis had before now refused to make any concessions to his age or increasingly fragile health, which saw him begin using a wheelchair three years ago.
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