Though weak and bedridden while hospitalized for more than three weeks with severe pneumonia, Pope Francis still hasn’t stopped pushing for many of his long-held priorities.

Yet whether those same priorities will be championed with the same dedication by the next pontiff is still an open question, as is when that might happen. 

The 88-year-old Francis is clearly the final stage of his papacy. Over roughly the past three years, and prior the the recent hospitalization, the pope has had two major surgeries, falls, severe bouts of respiratory illnesses and and back and knee ailments. Nevertheless, history shows such a phase can last days, weeks, months or even years. 

In December, Francis named 21 new cardinals, expanding the group of senior church officials who will select his replacement from their ranks to 137, from 71 different countries. Of that number, Francis is responsible for elevating 110 of them to the rank of cardinal. 

The pope has also recently rebuked President Donald Trump’s plans for mass deportations, condemned the violence in Gaza and pushed to include a bigger role for women in the church (to the dismay of some inside the Vatican). 

Francis’ health has been touch and go since entering the hospital in mid-February, including several points where it appeared he might not survive for much longer. But in recent days, as his condition improved, the 88-year-old Argentinian was back to work from his hospital bed.

Last Thursday, he released a recorded audio message – his voice frail and labored – for the first time since the start of his hospitalization, blessing those gathered in St. Peter’s Square and thanking them for their prayers.

Even when his voice was not literally heard, Francis’ views have been made known. 

On Saturday, the pope released a letter to mark the 50th anniversary of the pro-life movement in Italy. 

“There is still and more than ever a need for people of all ages to dedicate themselves concretely to the service of human life, especially when it is most fragile and vulnerable,” Francis wrote. 

He has also spoken regularly with the one Catholic church in Gaza, blessed the hospital staff that has been taking care of him, and issued a warning about disinformation and misinformation in the world: “The voice of temper is the father of lies,” the pope said. There are even widespread reports that Francis (as well as President Trump) is in consideration for the Nobel Peace Prize. 

But most talk around the Vatican has involved hand wringing over Francis’ legacy and speculation about who might succeed him, despite the recent developments.

The outcome of the next conclave is particularly hard to predict, largely because there are so many new cardinals from so many new places (25 countries have had cardinals named for the first time under Francis).

Because Francis has so rarely called Cardinals to Rome, many of the men who will choose the new pope have never met each other. 

For that reason, insiders say that a short conclave would probably favor a figure who was well known going in, such as Italian Pietro Parolin (the Vatican’s secretary of state and the most high visibility cardinal), Matteo Zuppi, another Italian (he gained prominence as the papal envoy dispatched to broker a peace deal in Ukraine), and Luis Tagle of the Philippines (a pastoral figure who’s been dubbed “the Asian Francis”). The most likely American is probably Raymond Burke, a native of Wisconsin who resides in Rome (Burke is a frequent critic of large parts of Francis’ agenda). 

If the next conclave remains undecided through multiple ballots, a dark horse possibility could be Pierbattista Pizzaballa, an Italian-born cardinal who is now the highly-respected Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem. In that role, he has risen to prominence for his part in mediating Israel's conflicts with Hamas and Hezbollah.