Pope Francis acknowledged being fragile and "facing a period of trial", as he thanked well-wishers Sunday for prayers in a message from hospital, where he has been slowly recovering from pneumonia. "I am sharing these thoughts with you while I am facing a period of trial,

Pope Francis has entered the fifth week of hospital treatment for double pneumonia very much looking ahead as he continued work on a priority of his papacy.

Pope Francis was hospitalized on Feb. 14, after suffering a bout of bronchitis for weeks and after increasingly finding it hard to speak publicly. His condition soon developed into double pneumonia. The 88-year-old pope,