Pope Francis left the Gemelli Hospital in Rome today, where he had been admitted since last Wednesday due to bronchitis, and upon leaving, when asked about his state of health, he answered with a laugh: “I’m still alive.”
After being discharged, the Argentine pontiff left the hospital at 10:20 local time (08:20 GMT) aboard a utility vehicle and, upon leaving, He came 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 preside tomorrow at the Palm Sunday mass in St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican, which officially opens the rites of Holy Week.
Before leaving the hospital, Francisco said goodbye to the rector of the Catholic University, Franco Anelli; the general manager of Gemelli, Marco Elefanti; the ecclesiastical assistant of the University, Monsignor Claudio Giuliodori, and the medical and nursing team that assisted him.
The spokesman for the Holy See, Matteo Bruni, already advanced yesterday Friday that Francisco would leave the hospital today with the approval of the doctors who treated him.
Francisco was admitted last Wednesday due to infectious-based bronchitis, for which he received an intravenous infusion of antibiotics.
From the first day he was hospitalized, his health confirmed an “improvement”, as Bruni clarified at the time.
Francisco has stayed in an apartment for the exclusive use of the popes in the Gemelli, inaugurated in the time of John Paul II, and in these days of convalescence he has read newspapers, He has prayed in his chapel and even had pizza for dinner accompanied by some doctors and collaborators.
On Friday afternoon, he visited the children of the Pediatric Oncology and Child Neurosurgery unit and baptized a baby named Miguel Ángel.
The moment was recorded by the Vatican cameras and served to see the pontiff for the first time since his admission, smiling among the patients and even standing (in recent times he usually uses a cane or even a wheelchair due to his knee problems ).
The Vatican has confirmed that Francis plans to preside over the Palm Sunday Mass tomorrow, which officially opens the rites of Holy Week, the most important of the liturgical calendar, although it will be officiated by Argentine Cardinal Leonardo Sandri.
This was the second time that Francisco 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 a wheelchair and has assured on several occasions that he does not want to undergo surgery.