The expatriate community is small but shares a special bond with Francis, who has been in the hospital since Feb. 14.

TORVAIANICA, Italy (AP) — Moira Camila Garnica and a group of fellow migrant transgender women have been gathering at their parish church to pray for Pope Francis as he continues to battle pneumonia in a Rome hospital, about an hour away from this modest seaside town.

Clutching a bouquet of yellow roses, 79-year-old Carmela Vittoria Mancuso makes her way to Rome's Gemelli hospital each morning and later heads to St. Peter's Square at the Vatican in the evening to pray for the ailing Pope Francis.

Pope Francis has shown a "gradual, slight improvement" after more than three weeks in the hospital, the Vatican said Saturday.

The Vatican press office on Saturday described “a good response to therapy” and a “gradual, slight improvement” since the pope’s episodes of acute respiratory failure on Monday.