Who was St. Francis of Assisi, whom the Pope has named himself after?

Pope Francis has been in hospital since February 14, making it the longest hospitalisation of his 12-year papacy.

He is receiving treatment for pneumonia. Initially, he was treated for bronchitis before being diagnosed with pneumonia in both lungs.

The 88-year-old pontiff, who has a chronic lung condition and had part of one lung removed in his youth, suffered two respiratory crises on Monday, slowing his recovery.

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By Tuesday, he was breathing with the assistance of supplemental oxygen after experiencing breathing difficulties the previous day, but he resumed using a ventilation mask at night, according to the Vatican.

In an update on Wednesday, the Vatican said that the pope had slept well and remained in a stable condition.

As Pope Francis entered another week in hospital, hundreds of pilgrims travelled to a hilltop town to pray at the tomb of St. Francis, the medieval saint after whom the pontiff is named.

Groups from the United States, Ukraine, and various parts of Italy made their way through the town, where the grey and brown stone buildings have changed little since the saint’s birth over 840 years ago.

They said they were inspired by St. Francis’ dedication to the poor, peace, and nature - values that also shape the priorities of the pope and the Franciscans, one of the largest religious orders in the Catholic Church.

“The life of St. Francis teaches that holiness comes from letting go of oneself, freeing ourselves from attachments in this world, and offering everything to the Lord,” Rev. Paul Vu, who was in early March with a group of 50 Vietnamese-American parishioners from Santa Ana, California, told The Associated Press.

Who was St. Francis?

Francis was born in 1182 into a wealthy family in Assisi, a town above a fertile valley in central Italy. While praying before a crucifix, he heard a call to reform the church and sought to dedicate himself entirely to God by embracing a life of simplicity.

The Santuario della Spogliazione, meaning “stripping,” is a modest stone church on the hillside. It stands on the site where Francis renounced all his possessions, even his clothing, in front of his father, who then disowned him.

Accepted into the church by the bishop, he became a champion of the poor and later founded the Franciscan order, which remains active worldwide.

For Assisi’s current bishop, Rev. Domenico Sorrentino, Francis’ rejection of material wealth also reflected his deep appreciation for creation and peace.

“Francis, stripping himself, came back to nature in some sense. So we must receive nature as a gift of God, and respect this gift,” Sorrentino told AP.

During the Crusades, Francis developed a friendship with a Muslim sultan, and their conversations are still regarded as a model of interfaith dialogue. Decades later, St. John Paul II promoted this spirit by bringing religious leaders from around the world to Assisi to promote unity.

“Assisi is the place to pray for peace in the world and inside of ourselves,” said Elizabeth Nuñez, a Passionist sister from Colombia, who was visiting on a recent pilgrimage.

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Why Pope Francis chose St. Francis’ name

After being elected, a pope chooses a name to adopt for his papacy. Jorge Mario Bergoglio picked Francis in 2013.

“He explained it in a very simple way, that he chose Francis’ name because he’s the man of peace, of the poor, of brotherhood. The man who loves and respects creation,” said the Rev. Enzo Fortunato, who spent 30 years in Assisi and now leads the Vatican’s committee on World Children’s Day. “It’s a name that contains a life programme.”

Several of the pope’s encyclicals - teaching documents for the church - pulled from Franciscan themes and quotes, including one about building a more inclusive church.

This year will mark the 800th anniversary of St. Francis’ celebrated “canticle of creatures,” where he praises God for the sun, the moon and other natural elements he refers to as brothers and sisters.

Pope Francis used its title for an encyclical highlighting the importance of taking care of the environment because it’s a gift from God that humankind only gets to protect, not exploit.

Dora Pell, a 75-year-old pilgrim from England, went walking in the woods around Assisi beloved by St. Francis and called it as moving as sitting by his tomb in the Basilica of St. Francis on the edge of town.

“It’s just a spirituality that’s based on love and inclusiveness,” she said. “It’s seeing Christ everywhere, in everything and everybody.”

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What else is Assisi known for?

The basilica contains a cycle of more than two dozen frescoes illustrating crucial moments in St. Francis’ life — including the “spogliazione.”

Painted by Giotto at the end of the 13th century, they marked a turning point in Western art. Their realism and careful rendering of space and depth went far beyond what was common in the Middle Ages and presaged the Renaissance.

They were spared destruction in the 1997 earthquake that hit the region, killing four people in the basilica itself.

Across town is the Basilica di Santa Chiara, dedicated to St. Clare, who embraced radical poverty to imitate St. Francis. He made available to her and the growing group of women following her a local church — the beginning of the Poor Clares order, now present in 70 countries with 20,000 sisters.

In between the two churches, in the Santuario della Spogliazione, lies the Blessed Carlo Acutis, an Italian teen who died in 2006 and will become the church’s first millennial saint when canonised in April.

That makes Assisi “a condensation of holiness in a small town,” Fortunato said. And it all links back to St. Francis’ choice 800 years ago.

“In the end, Francis is pure Gospel. He’s the good news,” Fortunato said.

With inputs from AP