There has long been a Vatican taboo against openly talking about a conclave when a pope is sick: It’s considered gauche to speculate about the election of a new pope while the current one is fighting for his life.

Time-honored rituals, drafted and refined over centuries, allow time for mourning and provide order at a dramatic moment of transition.

A bishop removed from his diocese by Pope Francis is "grateful" for everyone who has prayed for the pope amid his ongoing health battle. "We must remember that praying for those in peril is who we are,

The pontiff's condition is touch-and-go, given his age, fragility and pre-existing lung disease, according to doctors.

The development marked a setback in what had been two successive days of increasingly upbeat reports from doctors

Pope Francis is continuing his slow recovery from double pneumonia and beating back speculation of an imminent death, resignation or conclave.