ROME – As Pope Francis marks 33 days in Rome’s Gemelli Hospital fighting double pneumonia, the official medical information provided to journalists has become less detailed and less frequent, something which in this case is a positive sign.

In a March 19 statement, the Vatican said that the pope’s clinical status “continues to improve.”

Pope Francis has stopped use of non-invasive mechanical ventilation, where an oxygen mask is tightly sealed over the nose and mouth, and he has also reduced his use of high-flow oxygen through nasal cannulas.

Meanwhile, he continues to undergo, and show improvement in, motor and respiratory therapy, the Vatican said.

On Wednesday morning, for the liturgical solemnity of Saint Joseph, the pope concelebrated Mass in the chapel attached to his private suite on the 10th floor of Gemelli Hospital. He spent the day alternating between his various therapies, prayer and some work activities.

Doctors, according to the Holy See Press Office, believe that the pope’s respiratory infection is “under control,” though it has not been completely eliminated, and his blood tests are all normal and he continues to have no fever.

No details are available yet for how papal liturgies during Holy Week will be celebrated, or whether Pope Francis is still expected to be in the hospital, however, a recent announcement from Buckingham Palace that a planned meeting between the pope and King Charles and Queen Camilla will take place on April 8 indicates that the pope might be back at the Vatican in time for Holy Week events.

The Vatican’s recent medical bulletins on the pope’s health, Wednesday’s included, differed from those put out at the beginning of the pope’s hospitalization, which were published nightly and contained extensive and detailed information about his diagnosis, test results, and overall clinical status.

Subsequent statements closely tracked the progression of his illness, having been admitted Feb. 14 for treatment of a complex respiratory infection and double pneumonia, including at times off-color details about medical crises, such as inhaling his own vomit during a bronchospasm, a tightening and restriction of the tubes connecting the lungs to the windpipe, that required suctioning.

However, as Francis’s hospital stay has carried on and surpassed the one-month mark, the statements have become less frequent, and less detailed, coming out every other day instead of nightly, and now every few days.

The reason for this, doctors have said, is that the pope is making slow but steady progress, and that recovery is slow and oftentimes there simply is no new information to report.

In regard to this point, the Holy See Press Office said Wednesday that in light of the pope’s continued improvement and clinical stability, they will only provide updates Friday, March 21, and Monday, March 24, and there will not be another official medical bulletin until sometime next week.

Where papal health is concerned, an uneventful day, or several, with slow but consistent improvement and no noteworthy developments to publish is perhaps the best possible scenario, when consistently having no news is actually good news.

Follow Elise Ann Allen on X: @eliseannallen