While Pope Francis was hospitalized in Rome’s Gemelli hospital, one of the cardinals closest to him traveled to Lebanon to demonstrate the pope’s ongoing concern for refugees and for peace in the Middle East.

While Italy’s main news agency reported that Pope Francis’ respiratory “crisis” had subsided, a Vatican source said he was still receiving supplemental oxygen by nasal cannula early Feb. 23.

Catholic bishops throughout the U.S. are calling on faithful to pray for Pope Francis, now in critical condition in Rome’s Gemelli hospital amid a week-long battle with respiratory illness.

The Feb. 23 ordination Mass at the Vatican was the culmination of a three-day Holy Year celebration that drew thousands of deacons, plus their wives and others, from more than 100 countries to Rome for communal prayer, discussion and celebration of the diaconate.

Evangelizing through culture is a challenge for the church, especially in societies where faith is seen as “something alien,” participants said at a Vatican-sponsored discussion on faith and culture.

Pope Francis experienced “an asthmatic respiratory crisis of prolonged magnitude, which also required the use of oxygen at high flows” Feb. 22, said the daily medical bulletin released by the Vatican.

While the possible benefits of AI may outnumber its feared risks, a group of experts meeting in Rome insisted global legislation and ethical principles must be developed and applied now to protect human rights and curb or prevent possible harm.

While Pope Francis’ life is not in immediate danger, the level of multiple infections in his lungs means he is not completely “out of danger,” said Dr. Sergio Alfieri, director of medical and surgical sciences at Rome’s Gemelli hospital.

Despite his illness, Pope Francis’ “great desire is to at least complete the Jubilee, the holy year dedicated to hope that he feels is his great moment,” a cardinal told an Italian newspaper.

On his sixth full day in Rome’s Gemelli hospital, “the Holy Father’s clinical condition is improving slightly,” the Vatican said.