A brief, two-line message recorded by Francis from Rome's Gemelli hospital earlier on Thursday was played during a nightly prayer service for him in St Peter's Square at the Vatican.
"I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your prayers in the Square for my health," said the Pope, speaking in his native Spanish, and pausing every few words to take a deep breath. "May God bless you."
The audio message came shortly after the Vatican said he had remained stable on Thursday and did not have any new episodes of respiratory crisis.
In a sign of progress as the 88-year-old continues treatment, the Pope's doctors said they would not issue another medical bulletin until Saturday, "considering the stability of the clinical picture".
Francis was admitted to Gemelli hospital on February 14 with a severe respiratory infection that has required continuously evolving treatment.
In the latest detailed medical update on his condition, the Vatican said the Pope had not had a fever and his blood tests had remained stable.
Despite pausing the daily readouts about his condition, the doctors continued to call his prognosis "guarded", meaning he was not yet out of danger.
The tone of the updates from the Vatican has been more upbeat in recent days, following what was described as two episodes of "acute respiratory insufficiency" on Monday.
On Thursday, the Vatican said Francis had been able to work between receiving his treatments and taking rest. It also said the pontiff, who has used a wheelchair in recent years due to knee and back pain, had continued with some physical therapy to help with mobility, which first started on Wednesday.
The Pope, who is known to work himself to exhaustion, has continued to work from hospital.
Francis has experienced several bouts of ill-health over the last two years and is prone to lung infections because he had pleurisy as a young adult and had part of one lung removed. Double pneumonia is a serious infection in both lungs that can inflame and scar them, making it difficult to breathe.
England Cricket apologises for 'ill-judged' post
The England and Wales Cricket Board has apologised after its social media staff reposted a message from the account of Pope Francis and suggested he was a fan of the Ashes series.
The post on the X account of Pope Francis was sent out on Tuesday ahead of Ash Wednesday, the start of the season of Lent when the foreheads of Roman Catholics are marked with the ashes of burnt palm leaves.
"The #Ashes remind us of who we are, which does us good," the message started.
England Cricket's account reposted it along with the message, "Even @Pontifex loves the Ashes", a reference to the Ashes rivalry between the England and Australia cricket teams.
"This was an ill-judged post and was swiftly deleted," an ECB spokesman said. "We apologise for any offence."
The next edition of the Ashes cricket series, which gets its name from a satirical obituary published in a British newspaper after Australia first won a test in England in 1882, takes place later this year.
