July 9 (UPI) -- Pope Francis will give his Sunday blessing from a hospital in Rome where he's been for nearly a week recovering from intestinal surgery, the Vatican said Friday.
Vatican officials said the pope will perform the Angelus prayer from the 10th floor of the Gemelli Hospital. Francis underwent colon surgery last Sunday immediately he gave the same blessing in St. Peter's Square.
The pontiff has been recuperating at the hospital all week, was "up and walking" around there on Wednesday and continues to improve, the Vatican said.
Pope Francis celebrated mass on Thursday with hospital staffers who have cared for him since the 84-year-old had the operation for severe diverticular stenosis.
The Catholic leader has been recovering well and only experienced a slight fever following the surgery.
The Vatican said Friday that he continues to recover, work and has "moments of reading texts."
"The Holy Father gives thanks for the many messages of affection and closeness that he receives daily and asks that we continue to pray for him," Matteo Bruni, director of the Holy See Press Office, said in a statement.
Pope John Paul II gave a Sunday blessing from the same hospital after he was shot in an assassination attempt in 1981.