ROME (AP) — Pope Francis was sitting upright and receiving therapy for double pneumonia Wednesday, the Vatican said, as Argentines and Romans alike gathered in the Eternal City to pray for his recovery. Francis remained in critical condition.

The Vatican said that it hoped to have information later in the day about the results of a CT scan taken Tuesday evening to check on the status of the complex lung infection that has kept him hospitalized since Feb. 14.

The Vatican said the pope had a peaceful night and was up, sitting in his armchair on Wednesday receiving therapy. Doctors have said he isn’t out of danger, but hasn’t had any further respiratory crises since Saturday.

The dean of the College of Cardinals, meanwhile, was designated to lead the Vatican’s prayer vigil in St. Peter’s Square on Wednesday night, thrusting a key figure in a future possible conclave into the spotlight.

On Tuesday night, the faithful from Francis' homeland gathered in the Argentine church of Rome for a special Mass presided over by Cardinal Baldassarre Reina, the pope’s vicar for Rome.

The rector of the church, the Rev. Fernando Laguna, said that he hoped the pope could feel the embrace of the community’s prayer from the Gemelli hospital where he is recovering.

“I can’t go to Gemelli, because for him to recover he must be isolated,” he said. “I know that I hug him and that he hugs me when I pray. And now I would like to embrace the pope.”

Sister Nilda Trejo said that she knew Francis' health has always been delicate, with problems breathing and speaking loudly, and that’s why she always prayed for him.

“We knew that he often found it difficult,” she said. “In fact, you see that at the beginning of Mass, the microphone always has to be turned up because he has a bit of trouble. But he always spoke to the people. To the heart of the people.”

Across town, Romans and others gathered in St. Peter’s Square for the nightly Rosary prayer, presided over by Filipino Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, who runs the Vatican’s office responsible for the church in the developing world.

The Vatican said that the Wednesday evening vigil in St. Peter’s would be presided over by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, 91, the influential dean of the College of Cardinals. Francis recently extended Re’s term as dean, keeping him in the important job rather than naming someone new.

As is now popularly known thanks to the Oscar-nominated film “Conclave,” the dean is a key point of reference for cardinals. He presides over a papal funeral and organizes the conclave to elect a new pope.

From 2000-2010, Re was prefect of the Vatican’s congregation for bishops, one of the most powerful and influential positions in the Holy See. Francis made him dean in 2020 and confirmed him in the job in January despite the expiration of his five-year term.

Doctors said that Francis was in critical but stable condition and hadn’t suffered any new respiratory crises. He underwent a follow-up CT scan on Tuesday evening to check the lung infection, but no results were provided. Doctors said that his prognosis remained guarded.

Francis continued to work from the hospital, and on Tuesday announced some major governing decisions that suggest he’s getting essential work done and looking ahead.

___

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

KILDARE, Okla. (CNN) - A massive wind turbine collapsed in Oklahoma.

The collapse happened on Tuesday morning on a private farm about 115 miles north of Oklahoma City.

No one was hurt, but there’s more to the story. It’s a complete mystery how it happened.

The Kildare Fire Department says it wasn’t even a windy day when the turbine collapsed.

LAREDO, Tex. (KGNS) - Additional funding for the U.S. Border Patrol is under consideration to expand the agency’s workforce, building on last year’s federal allocation for 22k new agents.

Border Patrol Laredo Sector Chief, Jesse Munoz, explains that funds continue to be needed to hire the necessary amount of agents on the field.

However, the hiring process is long and difficult, with the biggest hurdle being the polygraph test, Munoz adds many good applicants are at times lost during the polygraph.

He says changes may be coming to that section in the hiring process, possibly making it shorter and less extensive. “We want to make sure that we still doing the right thing, and not letting people into Border Patrol that shouldn’t be agents. We just really want to look at it and see if it really needs to be what it is right now.”

Munoz guesses a shortened plygraph would translate to less questions. Currently, it remains to be seen what or if adjustments will be made under the new administration.

LAREDO, Tex. (KGNS) - U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers seized more than $872,000 worth of cocaine at the Juarez-Lincoln Bridge over the weekend, leading to two arrests.

The bust happened Sunday, Feb. 23, while the city was celebrating George Washington’s Birthday. Officers stopped a 2001 Ford Explorer driven by a 43-year-old U.S. citizen for a closer inspection. With the help of a scanning system and a K-9 unit, officers found 25 hidden packages inside the vehicle. The packages contained 65 pounds of cocaine, worth an estimated $872,777.

CBP took the drugs and vehicle. Homeland Security Investigations arrested the driver and a 54-year-old Mexican citizen passenger. The case is under investigation.

(Gray News) - Elon Musk is giving federal workers “another chance” to justify their jobs in an email or be fired.

The original deadline for federal workers to respond to an email with the subject, “What did you do last week?” with five bullet points about what they had accomplished passed Monday night.

“Subject to the discretion of the President, they will be given another chance,” Musk said Monday evening on X. “Failure to respond a second time will result in termination.”

Musk did not provide a new deadline.

Employees at multiple federal agencies including the Pentagon, Federal Bureau of Investigation, State Department and Department of Energy had been told to disregard the email.

The email was sent to more than two million federal employees from the Office of Personnel Management on Saturday. Musk said on X Saturday that “failure to respond will be taken as a resignation.”

President Donald Trump spoke about the email Monday telling reporters, “If people don’t respond, it’s very possible that there is no such person or they’re not working.”

According to NBC, the Department of Government Efficiency will feed the emails to an artificial intelligence system to determine if the jobs are necessary.

LAREDO, Tex. (KGNS) - To stop the illegal flow of drugs into the country, the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) is carrying out a drug operation task force along I-35.

I-35 is known as one of the main drug corridors in the United States according to the Department of Justice.

As thousands travel along this highway, DPS Sergeant Erick Estrada explains how the DPS is cracking down on stopping drug smugglers.

“We have a task force right now that is looking for drugs and intercepting any type of criminal activity that is occurring on I-35,“ Estrada said.

One stop had been caught on camera, showing body cam footage of the moment troopers found 34 pounds of marijuana in a duffle bag.

The seizure is a rare find for troopers according to Estrada. “We don’t usually see a family group involving an infant in these types of cases. In this particular case, it was a family of three where they were carrying two infants, and underneath the car seat, they had bundles of marijuana.”

The two Laredo brothers in the stopped truck were arrested near Mile Marker 24, and identified as 21-year-old Jose Alejandro Martinez and 19-year-old Ramiro Martinez.

In another case, troopers stopped a 2011 Chevrolet Silverado on Santa Isabel Ave. and Burnside St. in Laredo.

DPS reported eight plastic-wrapped bundles that contained marijuana in the rear seat of the vehicle.

In this case, they confiscated 198 pounds of marijuana with an estimated street value of $60k. The driver was identified as 21-year-old Leroy Castillo, another Laredo native.

All people involved in the described cases were charged with possession of marijuana, with their cases still under investigation. Additionally, each case was carried out at random times and dates.

I-35 begins in Laredo, Texas, and ends in Duluth, Minnesota. Here at home, DPS remains in the battle to stop the flow of drugs before they enter other major cities.

(CNN) - Authorities have uncovered more in the case of a tourist who vanished while visiting north Florida in 2022.

The body of Alex Doughty was found in a wooded area near Kingsland, Georgia, on Feb. 4. That’s located close to the border with Florida.

The 30-year-old was visiting the Jacksonville area from the United Kingdom, but many questions are still unanswered.

It’s unclear why Doughty took an Uber from Jacksonville to the Kingsland area.

He was last seen in the parking lot of a car parts store at 1 a.m.

Authorities also haven’t said why no criminal charges are expected in the case.

The FBI says it used geolocation data from Doughty’s phone to locate his remains.

It’s also not known at this point why it took more than two years to pinpoint his location.

LAS VEGAS (FOX5/Gray News) - The FBI’s Las Vegas branch announced on Friday criminal charges against a woman who is accused of “deliberately and methodically” targeting older men to rob them of everything.

Aurora Phelps is currently incarcerated in Mexico and awaiting extradition after the Department of Justice filed a motion to unseal an indictment against her.

In one instance, Phelps allegedly drugged a Nevada man and then pushed him in a wheelchair across the border while he was in an “inebriated state.”

“Phelps then took him to a hotel room in Mexico City, where the victim was found dead a few hours later,“ FBI Special Agent in Charge Spencer L. Evans explained.

Evans says all of the victims in the indictment are U.S. citizens. Three of the men are from Nevada.

“Two of Phelps' other alleged victims were found dead shortly after their encounters with her, and the one living victim mentioned in the indictment survived and emerged from a coma after Phelps administered large amounts of prescription sedatives to him over the course of a week.” Evans added.

The FBI says it’s “one of the most egregious and reprehensible” romance schemes in recent history.

The crimes spanned from July 2021 and December 2022.

“We believe Phelps connected with each of them through an online dating application so she could lure them into her confidence under false pretenses and then drug them with dangerous doses of prescription sedatives and other controlled substances,” Evans said during Friday’s press conference.

Phelps is also alleged to have stolen millions of dollars in stock from one of the victims.

“Once she incapacitated her victims, Phelps stole their cars, accessed their bank and brokerage accounts to withdraw cash, used their credit cards to make a variety of purchases including luxury retail goods and gold, and even attempted to access their social security and retirement accounts,” Evans 

Phelps' charges include seven counts of wire fraud, three counts of mail fraud, six counts of bank fraud, three counts of ID theft, one count of kidnapping and one count of kidnapping resulting in death.

Investigators asked any individuals who believe they had been targeted by Phelps to contact the FBI. The FBI fears there could be more victims.

Phelps faces life in prison if convicted.