While Pope Francis battles pneumonia in hospital, work at the Vatican, headquarters of the 1.4 billion-member Catholic Church, continues apace.

Updates on Francis’ condition, which was said to be stable on Wednesday, have typically been spare, leaving plenty of room for suspicion and speculation.

The Vatican said Pope Francis has the "onset of bilateral pneumonia," and that tests, a chest X-ray and the pope's clinical condition present a "complex picture."