Elisabetta Povoledo

The release of the photo a month into his treatment came after dozens of young people gathered under the pontiff’s windows to offer wishes for a quick recovery.

Discovered outside Rome, the bath, which is thought to be a mikvah, could be more than 1,600 years old.

Two dozen works from museums and private collectors around the world are on display, with some reunited for the first time in centuries.

The expatriate community is small but shares a special bond with Francis, who has been in the hospital since Feb. 14.

In an audio recording from the hospital, which was taped earlier on Thursday, the pope thanked Catholics for their prayers.

“Conclave,” an Oscar nominee, has provided a peek at the Vatican’s secret rituals at a time when the faithful are praying that life will not imitate art.

The Vatican said Francis, 88, who has been hospitalized for pneumonia, was responding well to treatment and that it was too soon to say how serious the incident was.

The kidney ailment appears to be in an early stage, the Vatican said, adding that the pontiff is still receiving high flows of oxygen for his respiratory illness.

La dolencia renal parece estar en una fase inicial, dijo el Vaticano, y añadió que el pontífice sigue recibiendo altos flujos de oxígeno debido a su enfermedad respiratoria.

Muchos de quienes le conocen dijeron que Francisco, impulsado por un sentido de misión y una disciplina nacida de su formación temprana, prácticamente trabajó hasta terminar hospitalizado.