ShareVATICAN CITY: Pope Francis returned to the Vatican on Sunday after being discharged from the hospital where he spent more than five weeks being treated for breathing difficulties, but took time before leaving to thank well-wishers for their support. Looking tired and worn, the pontiff sat in a wheelchair on one of the hospital balconies to say goodbye, waving softly to hundreds of people who had gathered below to wish the head of the Catholic Church a full recovery.
Pilgrims chanted his name at the first public sighting of Francis since February 14, when he was admitted to Rome’s Gemelli hospital with breathing difficulties and a respiratory illness which developed into pneumonia. “Thank you, everyone,” a weak-sounding Francis said into a microphone, as he waved his hands from his lap, doing an occasional thumbs-up sign. “I can see that woman with yellow flowers, well done,” he said with a small smile, to laughter from the crowd.
Francis, who had bags under his eyes, was on the balcony for two minutes before being discharged from the hospital immediately afterwards. He left by car wearing a cannula — a plastic tube tucked into his nostrils which delivers oxygen.
The Zionist aggression on Gaza appeared to be a primary concern for the 88-year-old Pope during his final days in the hospital. In his Angelus prayer, which was published Sunday as he was being discharged, Pope Francis called for an “immediate” end to strikes on the Gaza Strip, and for the resumption of dialogue for the release of hostages and a “definitive ceasefire”. “I am saddened by the resumption of the intense (Zionist entity) bombardment of the Gaza Strip, with so many deaths and injuries”, Francis wrote. “I ask that the weapons be silenced immediately and that the courage be found to resume dialogue so that all the hostages can be freed and a definitive ceasefire reached”, said Francis, who was set to return to the Vatican on Sunday. “The humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip is once again very serious and requires the urgent commitment of the conflicting parties and the international community”, he said.
‘Joy’
Seeing Francis “just filled me and I think many of the people who are here with a great sense of joy,” Larry James Kulick, a bishop from Pennsylvania in the United States, told AFP. “It was just a wonderful opportunity to see him and I think he responded so much to the people’s prayers and to all of the chanting,” he said at the Gemelli. “I hope it lifted his spirits, I think it did.”
The pope, in a white Fiat 500 L, was driven past the Vatican and on to Santa Maria Maggiore, the Rome church where he stops to pray before and after trips. He was then seen arriving back at the Vatican. Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on X, formerly Twitter, that she was “happy” that Francis had returned home. She expressed her “affection and gratitude for his tireless commitment and his precious guidance”.
This was the pope’s fourth and longest hospital stay since his 2013 election. Francis, who had part of one lung removed as a young man and lost weight in hospital, still faces a long recovery of at least two months. The increasingly fragile state of Francis’s health has spurred speculation as to whether he could opt to step down and make way for a successor, as his predecessor Benedict XVI had done.
The pope suffered repeat respiratory crises during his stay, leading doctors to perform bronchoscopies to remove secretions from his lungs and carry out a blood transfusion. The seriousness of his condition was underlined by the release on March 6 of an audio recording of the pope in which — speaking in a weak and very breathless voice — he thanked the faithful praying for him.
Francis continued to do bits of work in hospital when possible, but his medical team has made it clear he will not be mingling with crowds or kissing babies soon. “Further progress will take place at his home, because a hospital — even if this seems strange — is the worst place to recover because it’s where you can contract more infections,” one of his doctors, Sergio Alfieri, told reporters on Saturday. “During the convalescence period he will not be able to take on his usual daily appointments,” he said.
Questions over Easter
Such restrictions are not expected to be easily borne by the Argentine pope, who previously carried out a packed schedule and took evident pleasure interacting with his flock. Questions also remain over who might lead the busy schedule of religious events leading up to Easter — the holiest period in the Christian calendar. The pneumonia he suffered means that Francis will require physiotherapy to recover use of his voice. “When you suffer bilateral pneumonia, your lungs are damaged and your respiratory muscles are also strained,” Alfieri said. “It takes time for the voice to get back to normal.”
Asked by reporters on Monday about speculation the pope could resign, Vatican Secretary of State Pietro Parolin replied: “No, no, no. Absolutely not.” — AFP
