The Vatican, though, made alternative plans for Ash Wednesday next week, making clear Francis still had a long road ahead. Cardinal Angelo De Donatis, a Vatican official and former vicar of Rome, will preside over the March 5 ceremony and procession that inaugurates the church’s solemn Lenten season leading up to Easter in April.

Pope Francis, who has been hospitalised for two weeks battling double pneumonia, has spent another peaceful night and is now resting, the Vatican said on Friday. Francis, 88, was admitted to Rome's Gemelli hospital on February 14 with what was originally described as a bronchitis and was later revealed to have developed into something more serious.

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

Pope Francis's condition is not currently critical, a Vatican source said Friday, after a series of clinical improvements for the 88-year-old pontiff suffering from pneumonia in both lungs. The Argentine pope has spent the past two weeks at Rome's Gemelli hospital,

He will remain in hospital due to a complex clinical picture, the Vatican said on Friday morning. It added the 88-year-old had another "peaceful night" and is "now resting" in Rome's Gemelli Hospital.