Pope Francis returned to the Vatican on Sunday after more than five weeks in the hospital battling pneumonia, taking a moment to thank well-wishers for their support before his departure.
Looking tired and frail, the 88-year-old pontiff waved to the crowd outside Rome’s Gemelli hospital from a balcony—his first public appearance since being admitted on February 14.
“Thank you, everyone,” a weak-sounding Francis said into a microphone while seated in a wheelchair, as hundreds of pilgrims chanted his name. He waved his hands from his lap, offering a thumbs-up at times, and drew laughter when he smiled and remarked, “I can see that woman with yellow flowers, well done.”
With visible bags under his eyes, the pope spent two minutes on the balcony before being discharged and driven away in a car. He wore a cannula—an oxygen-delivering tube tucked into his nostrils—indicating the ongoing fragility of his health.
On Saturday, his doctor announced that the pope would require “at least two months” of convalescence at his residence in the Vatican’s Santa Marta guesthouse.
“Joy” among the pilgrims
Pilgrims who gathered outside the Gemelli hospital expressed their joy at seeing the pope in person. “It just filled me and I think many of the people who are here with a great sense of joy,” said Larry James Kulick, a bishop from Pennsylvania. “It was a wonderful opportunity to see him, and I think he responded so much to the people’s prayers and chanting,” he added. “I hope it lifted his spirits, I think it did.”
Domenico Papisca Marra, a 69-year-old Catholic from southern Italy, expressed his deep affection for the pope. “I am really happy to have seen him… I really love Pope Francis,” he said.
The pope was then driven in a white Fiat 500 L, initially heading to the Santa Maria Maggiore church in Rome, where he traditionally stops to pray before and after trips. There, he placed the bouquet of yellow roses he had noticed from the hospital balcony on the altar, a gift from 72-year-old well-wisher Carmela Mancuso. “I hope he gets better soon and returns to us, as before,” Mancuso told Vatican News, visibly emotional.
A period of rest
This was Pope Francis’s fourth and longest hospital stay since becoming head of the Catholic Church in 2013. It has also been the most complicated. The pope, who had part of one lung removed in his youth, faced “very critical” moments over the past month, with doctors confirming that his life was in danger at times, although he remained conscious throughout.
During his hospital stay, the Vatican issued twice-daily bulletins, but the pope’s absence from public view led to speculation, with some even questioning whether he had passed away. On March 6, the Vatican released an audio recording of the pope, in which he sounded weak and breathless.
Francis will need physiotherapy to recover full use of his voice, with one of his doctors, Sergio Alfieri, explaining that the pope’s lungs and respiratory muscles were damaged by the bilateral pneumonia. “It takes time for the voice to get back to normal,” Alfieri said.
Easter and future plans
While he continued working in the hospital when possible, the pope’s medical team has made it clear that he will not be meeting with crowds or engaging in his usual activities for the foreseeable future. “Further progress will take place at his home, because a hospital is the worst place to recover from infections,” Alfieri said. “During the convalescence period, he will not be able to carry out his usual daily appointments.”
This raises questions about how the pope will manage the upcoming Easter events, one of the busiest periods in the Christian calendar. With his health continuing to decline, speculation has emerged that he may choose to step down, as his predecessor, Benedict XVI, did.
When asked about this possibility, Vatican Secretary of State Pietro Parolin firmly responded, “No, no, no. Absolutely not.”
AFP
