Pope Francis is in stable condition and met with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni as he is getting treated in a hospital for double pneumonia, the Vatican said Wednesday night.

After widespread concerns over the 88-year-old pontiff’s deteriorating health, the Holy See Press Office announced that the Holy Father may have turned a corner.

“The Holy Father’s clinical condition is stationary. The blood tests, evaluated by the medical staff, show a slight improvement, particularly in the inflammatory indices,” it said.

Pope Francis has been able to get out of his bed every day and spent Wednesday morning reading newspapers and working with his “closest collaborators,” the statement read.

The pontiff was feeling healthy enough to accept a 20-minute visit from Meloni, who said she found him in good spirits.

“I am very happy to have found him alert and responsive,” Meloni said, according to La Stampa. “We joked as always. He hasn’t lost his proverbial sense of humor.”

The pope’s heart is also holding up very well and he has not required supplemental oxygen, Vatican insiders told the outlet.

Pope Francis was diagnosed Tuesday with double pneumonia at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital, where he was first admitted on Feb. 14.

The pope has had plenty of health troubles in recent years, including frequent bouts of flu, sciatica nerve pain and an abdominal hernia that led to surgery in 2023.

As a young adult, the first pope from the Americas contracted pleurisy and had part of one lung removed, which added to fears over his double pneumonia diagnosis.

In case of the worst, ritual holds that the pope cannot die in a hospital, but must be brought back to the Vatican, as happened with Pope John Paul II, Italian outlet Leggo reported.