Pope Francis, battling double pneumonia, remains in critical condition for the fourth day running but is stable and has not had any further respiratory crises, the Vatican said on Tuesday (February 25).

The 88-year-old pope was spending his 12th night at Rome's Gemelli hospital, the longest hospital stay of his papacy.

"The clinical conditions of the Holy Father remain critical, but stable," the latest forthright health update read.

The pope's prognosis, it said, remains "guarded." But his hemodynamic parameters, a measure of the functioning of his body's circulatory system, were also "stable."

(Production: Malgorzata Wojtunik)