Pope Francis remained in critical condition as the Vatican called senior church officials in Rome to a special saying of the rosary in St. Peter’s Square.

Pope Francis, head of the Roman Catholic Church, has held his title for 12 years. What to know about the Jesuit.

Time-honored rituals, drafted and refined over centuries, allow for ritual mourning and provide order at a dramatic moment of transition.

Pope Francis is being treated for double pneumonia and recent blood tests also revealed "mild renal insufficiency."

Daily evening prayers will be held for Pope Francis at the Vatican's St. Peter's Square as he remains hospitalized in Rome, Italy, for a complex lung infection.

Francis is being treated for pneumonia, a complex infection and kidney problems that have left him in critical condition. He did some light work on Monday.

ROME — Pope Francis remained in critical condition Monday but showed slight improvement in laboratory tests and resumed some work activities, including calling a parish in Gaza City that he has kept in touch with since the war there began, the Vatican said.