Azernews.Az

Hospitalized in critical condition with double pneumonia, Pope Francis was well enough to meet with the Vatican secretary of state to approve new decrees for possible saints and make some major governing decisions that suggest he is getting essential work done while remaining very much in charge, Azernews reports.

The audience, which occurred Monday, signaled that the machinery of the Vatican was still grinding on and looking ahead even with Francis, 88, hospitalized and doctors warning his prognosis is guarded.

Decisions on saints and a formal meeting of cardinals

The Vatican's Tuesday noon bulletin contained a series of significant decisions, most importantly that Francis had met with Cardinal Pietro Parolin and Archbishop Edgar Pena Parra, the so-called Vatican “substitute” or chief of staff. It was the first known time the pope had met with Parolin, who is essentially the Vatican prime minister, since his Feb. 14 hospitalization.

During the audience, Francis approved decrees for five people for beatification and two new saints. Francis also decided to “convene a consistory about the future canonizations.”

Such an audience and decision is par for the course when Francis is at the Vatican. He regularly approves decrees from the Vatican's saint-making office, albeit during audiences with the head of the office, not Parolin. But the calling of a consistory, which is a formal meeting of cardinals to set the dates for future canonizations, was also significant, given his illness.

It was at a banal consistory to set new dates for canonizations on Feb. 11, 2013, when Pope Benedict XVI announced, in Latin, that he would resign because he couldn't keep up with the rigors of the papacy. Francis has said he too would consider resignation after Benedict “opened the door” to it and became the first pope in 600 years to retire.

Francis has said that he has decided that he would live in Rome, outside the Vatican, and be called ''emeritus bishop of Rome" rather than emeritus pope. He has also written a letter of resignation, to be invoked if he became medically incapacitated.