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The Vatican announced on Monday that daily evening prayers for Pope Francis’s health will be held in St. Peter’s Square.

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s Secretary of State, is scheduled to lead the initial prayer this evening.

This comes as Pope Francis, 88, is spending his tenth day at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital, where he is being treated for a lung infection that has progressed to early stages of kidney insufficiency.

“The Pope rested well overnight, sleeping and remaining at rest,” the Vatican stated earlier on Monday.

Francis was hospitalized on February 14 after a week-long bout of bronchitis worsened. Doctors initially diagnosed a complex viral, bacterial, and fungal respiratory tract infection, which subsequently developed into pneumonia in both lungs.

Late Sunday, doctors reported that blood tests revealed “early, slight kidney insufficiency,” but that it remained under control. The doctors added that Francis remained in stable condition and had not experienced any further respiratory crises since Saturday evening.

At the Gemelli hospital, Bishop Claudio Giulio Dori led a crowded Mass in the St. John Paul II Chapel – named after the former pope – according to the Associated Press.

The AP reported that some of the approximately 200 attendees were wearing white doctor coats or green surgical scrubs.

“We are very sorry. Pope Francis is a good pope, we hope he recovers. We are joining him in prayer, but what else can we do?” Filomena Ferraro, who was visiting a relative at Gemelli on Monday, told the AP.

’ Landon Mion and  

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