Pope Francis left Rome’s Gemelli hospital today, where he had been hospitalized since last Wednesday with bronchitis. When asked about his state of health, he replied with a laugh: “I am still alive”.
After being discharged, the Argentinean pontiff left the hospital at 10:20 local time (08.20 GMT) aboard a utility vehicle and, on his way out, he even went down to the car helped by a cane, to greet the faithful and thank the journalists who have reported on his health.
The 86-year-old Argentine pontiff will tomorrow preside at the Palm Sunday Mass in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican, which officially opens the rites of Holy Week.
Before leaving the hospital, Francis said goodbye to the rector of the Catholic University, Franco Anelli; the general director of the Gemelli, Marco Elefanti; the ecclesiastical assistant of the University, Monsignor Claudio Giuliodori, and the medical team and nurses who have assisted him.
The spokesman of the Holy See, Matteo Bruni, had already announced on Friday that Francis would leave the hospital today with the approval of the doctors who attended him.
Francis was admitted last Wednesday because of an infectious bronchitis, for which he was treated with an intravenous antibiotic infusion.
Already on the first day of his hospitalization, his health showed “improvement”, as Bruni explained at the time.
Francis has been staying in an apartment for the exclusive use of popes at the Gemelli, inaugurated in the time of John Paul II, and in these days of convalescence he has read newspapers, prayed in his chapel and even had pizza for dinner, accompanied by some doctors and collaborators.
Yesterday afternoon, Friday, he visited the children of the Pediatric Oncology and Infant Neurosurgery unit and baptized a baby named Miguel Angel.
The moment was recorded by the Vatican cameras and served to see for the first time the pontiff since his admission, smiling among the patients and even standing (in recent times he usually uses a cane or even a wheelchair because of his knee problems).
The Vatican has confirmed that Francis plans to preside tomorrow at the Palm Sunday Mass, which officially opens the rites of Holy Week, the most important in the liturgical calendar, although it will be officiated by Argentine Cardinal Leonardo Sandri.
This was the second time that Francis has passed through the Gemelli. The first took place on July 4, 2021, when he underwent colon surgery and was hospitalized for ten days.
Since then, the pope has also suffered from a problem in his right knee that forces him to walk with a cane or in a wheelchair and he has assured on several occasions that he does not want to have surgery.