By NICOLE WINFIELD, Associated Press

ROME (AP) — Pope Francis is registering new slight improvements in his monthlong treatment for double pneumonia, the Vatican said Monday, as it also provided some details on the first photo of the pope released since his hospitalization.

The 88-year-old pontiff is now able to spend some time during the day off high flows of oxygen and use just ordinary supplemental oxygen delivered by a nasal tube, the Holy See press office said. Doctors are also trying to cut back on the amount of time he uses a noninvasive mechanical ventilation mask at night, to force his lungs to work more.

While those amount to “slight improvements,” the Vatican isn’t yet providing any timetable on when Francis might be released from the Gemelli hospital or confirming any upcoming events. Known events include a planned visit by King Charles III and Holy Week in April.

When Francis is being wheeled to his private chapel down the hall from his hospital room, for example, he doesn’t need to be attached to the oxygen, the press office said. It was at that moment that Francis was photographed on Sunday, from behind, as he sat in his wheelchair before the chapel altar in prayer without any sign of nasal tubes.

The photo, showing Francis wearing a Lenten purple stole, marked the first image of the pope since he was admitted to Gemelli Feb. 14 with a complex lung infection that developed into double pneumonia. It followed an audio message Francis recorded March 6 in which he thanked people for their prayers, his voice soft and labored.

Together, they suggested Francis is very much controlling how the public follows his illness to prevent it from turning into a spectacle. While many in the Vatican have held up St. John Paul II’s long and public battle with Parkinson’s disease and other ailments as a humble sign of his willingness to show his frailties, others criticized it as excessive and showy.

Francis’ doctors told reporters on Feb. 21 that the pope authorized them to clearly explain the gravity of his situation, in detail, and their regular medical bulletins have suggested that Francis is comfortable with such information being in the public domain.

The Vatican press office said Francis approved the photo being released, but the fact that his face was hidden suggested something of a compromise in terms of how his sickness is seen visually.

Francis doesn’t want to hide his illness and the difficult moment he is going through but he’s “not dramatizing it either,” noted La Repubblica’s Vatican correspondent, Iacopo Scaramuzzi.

The first three weeks of Francis’ hospitalization were marked by a rollercoaster of setbacks, including respiratory crises, mild kidney failure and a severe coughing fit in which he inhaled vomit. Over the last week, his condition has stabilized and doctors said he was no longer in imminent danger of death. With gradual improvements, the Vatican has suspended morning updates and is issuing less frequent medical bulletins. The next one is not expected before Wednesday.

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