Rome, Feb 21 (AP) Pope Francis' condition isn't life-threatening, but he's not out of danger, his medical team said Friday, as the 88-year-old pontiff marked his first week in a hospital with pneumonia on top of chronic bronchitis.

Francis' doctors delivered their first in-person update on the pope's condition, saying that he will remain hospitalised at least all of next week. The pope is receiving occasional supplements of oxygen and is responding to strengthened drug therapy for pneumonia, doctors said.

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Francis was admitted to Rome's Gemelli hospital on February 14 after a case of bronchitis worsened. Doctors later diagnosed a complex respiratory infection, involving bacteria, virus and other organisms and the onset of pneumonia in both lungs on top of asthmatic bronchitis. They prescribed “absolute rest.”

As his hospital stay drags on, some of Francis' cardinals have begun responding to the obvious question that is circulating: whether Francis might resign if he becomes irreversibly sick and unable to carry on.

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Francis has said he would consider it, after Pope Benedict XVI “opened the door” to popes retiring, but has shown no signs of stepping down and in fact has asserted recently that the job of pope is for life. (AP)

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)