Former Vice President Kamala Harris urged viewers not to "surrender to cynicism and destruction" on Saturday as she was honored at the 2025 NAACP Image Awards.

Harris attended the ceremony celebrating Black excellence and received the chairman's award, which is given to "individuals who excel in public service and leverage their unique platforms to ignite and drive meaningful change." She said the honor is special to her because she grew up "inspired" by the work of the NAACP, and the group is "part of the reason I chose a life of public service."

She continued that Americans must have the same "sense of urgency" today that the NAACP's founders did, "knowing, as the saying goes, eternal vigilance is the price of liberty."

"Some look at this moment and rightly feel the weight of history," Harris said. "Some see the flames on our horizons, the rising waters in our cities, the shadows gathering over our democracy, and ask, 'What do we do now?' But we know exactly what to do, because we have done it before, and we will do it again. We use our power. We organize, we mobilize, we educate and we advocate."

 Pope Francis, 88, rested during a peaceful ninth night at Rome's Gemelli Hospital after a respiratory crisis and blood transfusions, the Vatican said Sunday.

The update came after doctors said Francis, who had part of one lung removed when he was younger, was in critical condition.

It is unclear if he was awake and eating breakfast.

The pope suffered a prolonged asthmatic respiratory crisis on Saturday while being treated for double pneumonia and a complex lung infection.

POPE FRANCIS' MEDICAL CONDITION: WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT BILATERAL PNEUMONIA

Pope Francis greets faithful during the weekly General Audience at the Paul VI Hall on January 10, 2024, in Vatican City, Vatican.  (Vatican Media via Vatican Pool/Getty Images)

He received "high flows" of oxygen to help him breathe, and he received blood transfusions after tests revealed low counts of platelets, which are needed for clotting, according to the Vatican.

Platelets are cell-like fragments that circulate in the blood that help form blood clots to stop bleeding or help wounds heal. Various things can cause low platelet counts, including side effects from medicines or infections, according to the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

Francis "continues to be alert and spent the day in an armchair although in more pain than yesterday," the Vatican said.

Doctors said Francis' prognosis was "reserved." Doctors have said his condition is touch-and-go, given his older age, fragility and pre-existing lung disease.

POPE FRANCIS IS 'FINE,' CONDITION NOT LIFE-THREATENING, DOCTORS SAY

Pope Francis leads his traditional Wednesday General Audience at St. Peter's Square in Vatican City, March 8, 2023.  (Stefano Costantino/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

The main threat is if the infection enters the bloodstream, a serious condition known as sepsis, which can arise as a complication of pneumonia, the doctors said.

There was no evidence of any sepsis as of Friday, and Francis was responding to the various drugs he is taking, his medical team said.

Francis was admitted to Gemelli hospital on Feb. 14 after a weeklong bout of bronchitis worsened. Doctors first diagnosed the complex viral, bacterial and fungal respiratory tract infection and subsequently the pneumonia in both lungs.

Pope Francis is helped by his aide, Monsignor Leonardo Sapienza, left, as he walks with a cane to his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square at The Vatican on June 1, 2022. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, File)

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Francis was originally slated to celebrate Mass on Sunday morning in St. Peter's Basilica and ordained hundreds of deacons as part of the Vatican's yearlong Holy Year commemoration.

The organizer of the Holy Year, Archbishop Rino Fisichella, celebrated the Mass in his place, making a special prayer for Francis before delivering the homily the pope had prepared.

"Even though he is in a hospital bed, we feel Pope Francis close to us, we feel him present among us," Fisichella said. "And this compels us to make even stronger and more intense our prayer that the Lord will assist him in his time of trial and illness."