VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis’s ninth night in hospital passed peacefully after a respiratory attack that sparked alarm, the Vatican said Sunday, although the 88-year-old is still using oxygen through a tube to the nostrils.

The Vatican had on Saturday night warned that the condition of the pope, who is suffering from double pneumonia, was “critical” after he suffered a prolonged asthma-style attack and required blood transfusions for a low platelet count.

The Vatican’s morning update was brief, saying only: “The night passed peacefully, the pope rested.”

Yet Vatican sources pointed to this as evidence of no repeat of the crisis that occurred on Saturday at the Gemelli hospital, although he is still receiving oxygen through a cannula.

In a message published in lieu of his weekly Sunday Angelus prayer, which he normally delivers from a window overlooking St Peter’s Square, Francis thanked medical staff.

“I am confidently continuing my hospitalisation at the Gemelli Hospital, carrying on with the necessary treatment — and rest is also part of the therapy!” he said in the message written in the past few days.

“I ask you to pray for me,” he concluded in the message that was written in “recent days”.

Francis, who has been head of the Catholic Church since 2013, was initially admitted to the Gemelli — which has a special suite for popes — on February 14 with bronchitis.

In its evening update Saturday, the Vatican warned the pope had suffered a difficult day and his “condition continues to be critical, therefore… the pope is not out of danger”.

It said Francis was alert and “spent the day in an armchair even if he was suffering more than” the day before.

It said the Jesuit had a “prolonged asthmatic respiratory crisis, which also required the application of high-flow oxygen”.

Daily blood tests also “showed thrombocytopenia, associated with anaemia, which required the administration of blood transfusions”, it added.