Pope “alert and joke,” says the Prime Minister of Italy after the visit

The Prime Minister of Italy, Georgia Meloni, visited the Pope in the hospital, where he was diagnosed with pneumonia in both lungs.

The 88 -year -old man entered the Gemelli Hospital in Rome on Friday with a respiratory infection.

Meloni said in a statement that he was “very happy to have found him alert and receptive. We joke as always. He has not lost his proverbial sense of humor.”

She offered him the best wishes for rapid recovery, on behalf of the Italian government and throughout the country.

At the beginning of the week, the Vatican said that medical tests and a thorax radiography showed “a complex image.”

Pneumonia is a severe infection that can inflame and cycle the lungs, cause chest pain and make breathing difficult.

The Vatican said in his latest update on the fragile health of the pontiff that was alert and had breakfast.

A Vatican official said he could still get out of bed and sit in an armchair in his hospital’s room, and that he continued doing a job.

He has canceled a papal audience scheduled for Saturday and is not well enough to attend a Mass on Sunday.

Outside the hospital, supporters and pilgrims have continued to gather to pray, slight candles and write encouragement notes.