TORVAIANICA, Italy — Moira Camila Garnica and a group of fellow migrant transgender women have been gathering at their parish church to pray for Pope Francis as he continues to battle pneumonia in a Rome hospital, about an hour away from this modest seaside town.

The Vatican has said that Pope Francis is showing signs of improvement after his recent health scares while fighting double pneumonia. NBC News’ Anne Thompson reports from Rome on the latest health updates for Pope Francis as he continues his recovery.

The leader of the Catholic Church, 88-year old Pope Francis, has been ill and in hospital suffering from double pneumonia. As of this writing, he remains critical but stable as he tries to return to his work as the leader of

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

Pope Francis suffered two episodes of acute respiratory failure Monday, the Vatican said, a fresh setback in the worst health crisis of his papacy.

Francis had inhaled “copious” amounts of mucus in another setback in what has become a more than two-week battle to overcome a complex respiratory infection and pneumonia.