The setback comes on the eve of two full weeks of hospitalization and casts uncertainty on the pope's recovery.

The Vatican, though, made alternative plans for Ash Wednesday next week, making clear Francis still had a long road ahead.

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

Pope Francis suffered a sudden episode of respiratory difficulty and was put on a breathing machine on Friday, according to ...

Pope Francis, 88, has been in Rome's Gemelli hospital for two weeks, after being admitted with a severe respiratory infection.