Pope Francis is stable in a Rome hospital as he remains in a "complex" critical condition, the Vatican has said, as the 88-year-old marked three weeks in hospital with pneumonia.
"The overall clinical condition remains as it was in the past days: a complex clinical condition, within which the pope at the moment is stable, but the prognosis remains guarded," the Holy See said in a statement this evening.
Pope Francis was admitted to hospital on 14 February with a severe respiratory infection that has required continuously evolving treatment.
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Speaking in his native Spanish, the Pope said: "I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your prayers for my health from [St Peter's] Square. I accompany you from here. May God bless you and the Virgin protect you. Thank you."
People have been gathering in St Peter's Square at the Vatican every evening to pray for the Pope's recovery, and hundreds of people there yesterday applauded when they heard his message.
"We were very happy that he could speak," said 79-year-old John Maloney, from England.
"It's a good sign that he's actually able to speak," he told AFP, adding: "He's got a long way to go so he's in the hands of God."
But for Claudia Bianchi, a 50-year-old from Rome, "It struck me to hear him so tired".
"It was a positive sign, so it gives us hope that he still has the strength to speak. And he always seems to want to be with us," added another Rome local, Alessandra Dalboni, 53.
