In it, the Pope thanked people for their prayers and thanked his medical team for their care.Catholics have already been visiting the Gemelli hospital in Rome to pray for him - hoping he might come to the window,

The 88-year-old pope, who has chronic lung disease and had part of one lung removed as a young man, woke up after sleeping through the night, the Vatican said.

This was the pope's "third serious downturn" since he was admitted to Gemelli Polyclinic hospital with a complex respiratory infection on Feb. 14, the BBC said. The Vatican said laboratory tests suggested the mucus was a response to Francis' original pneumonia, not a new infection.