VATICAN CITY, March 7 — Pope Francis recorded and released an audio message yesterday thanking those who have been praying for his recovery, his voice breathless as he nears three weeks in hospital with pneumonia.

"I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your prayers for my health from the Square, I accompany you from here. May God bless you and the Virgin protect you. Thank you,” Francis said in his native Spanish in the message broadcast at the start of a prayer for his recovery in St Peter’s Square. — AFP