Pope Francis's health has slightly improved but he remains in a critical condition, the Vatican has said in a medical update.

On Sunday, the Pope's condition was said to be critical with respiratory and kidney problems.

But the Vatican has now said that a "slight" kidney problem was not a cause for concern, more than a week after he was admitted to hospital.

"Even today there were no episodes of asthmatic respiratory attacks; some laboratory tests have improved," said the Vatican in an evening bulletin on the 88-year-old's health.

The pontiff resumed some work on Monday and called the Priest of the Parish of Gaza "to express his fatherly closeness", the Vatican added.

The Pope is having oxygen therapy but doctors "are prudently not yet disclosing the prognosis", a statement said.

This is certainly the most positive statement on the Pope's health in a couple of days, but his condition is still described as critical. His doctors are not ready to give any kind of prognosis.

That said, Vatican sources this evening said that Francis has been eating "normally" and "can move". He is not bedridden. He has no fever, and no apparent sign of sepsis. On Friday his doctors described such a development as the greatest risk, in his situation.

The work the Pope was said to be doing on Monday afternoon was "light"- reading and signing documents.

He has been calling a Catholic parish in Gaza most evenings throughout the war there. It's thought this is the first call he has been able to make in recent days, although did keep up the practice when he was first hospitalised.

On Saturday, the Vatican said that the Pope had experienced a respiratory crisis and was in a "critical" condition, but later on Sunday released an update that he had "not presented any further respiratory crises".

Earlier on Sunday, the Pope issued a statement asking Catholics to pray for him after he was unable to deliver the traditional Angelus prayer in person for the second week running.

And at 21:00 (20:00 GMT) on Monday, those cardinals who are in Rome gathered outside St Peter's Basilica to lead prayers for the Pope, together with members of the Vatican curia and clergy from the Diocese of Rome.

They will continue to gather each evening, from now on, to recite the Rosary.

Monday evening's prayer will be led by Cardinal Parolin, who is the Vatican's secretary of state.

The pontiff is particularly susceptible to pneumonia, an infection of the lungs that can be caused by bacteria, viruses or fungi, after he contracted pleurisy - an inflammation of the lungs - as a young man and underwent a partial lung removal.

The leader of the Roman Catholic Church has been admitted to the hospital multiple times during his 12-year tenure, including being treated for bronchitis at the same hospital in March 2023.

From Argentina, Pope Francis is the first Latin American, and first Jesuit, to lead the Roman Catholic Church.