If you really want him to rest, you have to hospitalize him,” quipped Cardinal Jean-Marc Aveline, the archbishop of Marseille, France, referring to Francis' work ethic.

Pope Francishas shown a "slight improvement", is alert and got out of bed to eat breakfast on Thursday, the Vatican said, as the pontiff spent his seventh day in hospital battling pneumonia.

The Catholic Church is almost 2,000 years old, and over the centuries, the protocol for papal funerals has been codified and refined into a seamless procedure. In the case of the pope’s death, Cardinal Camerlengo Kevin Farrell would be expected to confirm his death with the aid of medical professionals.