VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis is still critically ill as he battles double pneumonia and the onset of slight kidney failure, but he remains alert, the Vatican said on Monday.

The 88-year-old pontiff was spending his 11th day in Rome’s Gemelli Hospital, equaling the longest hospital stay of his nearly 12-year papacy. A Vatican official, who did not wish to be named because he was not authorised to speak about the pope’s condition, said Francis was eating normally and was able to get up and move about his hospital room.

The pope received a blood transfusion on Saturday after experiencing a “prolonged asthma-like respiratory crisis” and his prognosis remained “guarded”, according to the latest medical update on Sunday evening. The pope’s prolonged illness has provoked an unusual amount of public speculation among Catholic cardinals, the highest ranking officials in the 1.4 billion-member church after the pontiff. New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan, said in a homily during Mass at his cathedral on Sunday that the pope was “probably close to death”.