Pope Francis made his first public appearance in five weeks before being discharged from the hospital, where he survived a severe case of pneumonia that twice threatened his life and raised the prospect of a papal resignation or funeral.
The 88-year-old pontiff waved and gave a big thumbs up as he said: “Thank you, thank you, everyone,” to those who gathered below his window, including patients wheeled outside to see him deliver a Sunday blessing from Rome’s Gemelli hospital.
Using a wheelchair, as he has for several years, the Pope, whose face looked swollen, smiled and waved at the well-wishers.
“I see this woman with the yellow flowers. Brava!” Francis said through a microphone held up to him. He gave a weak sign of the cross before being wheeled back inside.
After saying goodbye to hospital staff, Francis returned to the Vatican to begin at least two months of rest, rehabilitation and convalescence.
Doctors, who announced his planned release at a Saturday evening news conference, have said he should refrain from meeting large groups of people or exerting himself, but that eventually he should be able to resume all his normal activities.
Francis had only been seen by the public once before during his hospital stay, in a photo the Vatican released last week, showing the pontiff at prayer in a hospital chapel.
In the moments before the pontiff's appearance on Sunday, the crowd of hundreds of well-wishers called out for the Pope, chanting “Francis, Francis, Francis”.
His return home, after the longest hospitalisation of his 12-year papacy and the second-longest in recent papal history, brought tangible relief to the Vatican and Catholic faithful who have been anxiously following 38 days of medical ups and downs and wondering if Francis would make it.
But the pontiff was “very happy” to hear his health had improved sufficiently for him to leave the Gemelli Hospital, one of the doctors, Sergio Alfieri, said.
But Pope Francis, who had part of one lung removed as a young man, still faced a recovery period of “at least two months”, Dr Alfieri cautioned.
“Today I feel a great joy,” said Dr Rossella Russomando, a doctor from Salerno who didn’t treat Francis but was at Gemelli on Sunday.
“It is the demonstration that all our prayers, all the rosary prayers from all over the world, brought this grace.”
At the Vatican on a brilliant spring Sunday, pilgrims flocked as they have all year to St Peter’s Basilica to participate in the 2025 Holy Year.
They swarmed St Peter’s Square and progressed through the Holy Door in groups, while big TV screens in the square were turned on to broadcast Francis’ hospital greeting live.
Francis will have access to supplemental oxygen and 24-hour medical care as needed, though his personal physician, Dr Luigi Carbone, said he hoped Francis would progressively need less and less assistance breathing as his lungs recover.
While the pneumonia infection has been successfully treated, Francis will continue to take oral medication for quite some time to treat the fungal infection in his lungs and continue his respiratory and physical physiotherapy.
“For three or four days he’s been asking when he can go home, so he’s very happy,” Dr Carbone said.
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