A nun prays throughout a rosary prayer for the well being of Pope Francis in St Peter’s Sq. on the Vatican metropolis, Rome, on March 22, 2025. Pope Francis is to go away hospital on March 23, 2025 and return to his residence within the Vatican, the place he’s to spend “not less than two months” recovering, one in every of his docs introduced. —Photograph by Filippo Monteforte/Agence France-Presse
VATICAN CITY, Holy See — Pope Francis is to go away hospital on Sunday and return to his residence within the Vatican, the place he’s to spend “not less than two months” recovering, one in every of his docs introduced.
The 88-year-old pontiff has been in Rome’s Gemelli hospital since February 14, when he was admitted with respiratory issues, and he subsequently battled pneumonia in each lungs.
The Vatican stated earlier that the pope on Sunday meant to wave and provide a blessing from Gemelli hospital.
The physician, Sergio Alfieri, stated on Saturday that “tomorrow, the pope will go away (the hospital) and return to Saint Martha’s Home” within the Vatican, the place Pope Francis has his residential suite.
READ: Pope to make first public look Sunday since hospitalization
There, the pinnacle of the Catholic Church should observe “a protracted convalescence…. of not less than two months,” Alfieri advised reporters.
One other physician on the hospital, Luca Carbone, stated the aged pope’s well being “is enhancing” and “we hope that he’ll quickly have the ability to resume his regular actions”.
Alfieri stated: “Additional progress will happen at his residence, as a result of a hospital—even when this appears unusual—is the worst place to get well as a result of it’s the place one can contract extra infections.”
Resignation discuss dismissed
The delicate state of the pope’s well being had spurred hypothesis that he might step down, as his predecessor, Benedict XVI, did.
The present hospitalization, the longest in Francis’s papacy, has raised questions over who would possibly lead the busy schedule of spiritual occasions main as much as Easter, the holiest interval within the Christian calendar.
The pope has missed the Angelus prayers—usually recited by the pontiff each Sunday—for 5 straight weeks, for the primary time since his election in March 2013.
The Vatican stated earlier Saturday that the pope’s look on Sunday would comply with the Angelus prayers.
Beforehand, on Wednesday, the Vatican had stated that Francis had suspended his use of an oxygen masks.
For a lot of the pope’s hospital keep, together with essential phases, the Vatican was publishing day by day bulletins on the well being of Francis, who had a part of one lung eliminated as a younger man.
On Monday, Vatican Secretary of State Pietro Parolin advised reporters that he had famous an enchancment in Francis’ well being throughout a go to.
However requested whether or not the dialog had turned to the pope’s resignation, he replied: “No, no, no, completely not.”
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Catholics and others worldwide have been praying for his speedy restoration. Many have been leaving flowers, candles and notes for Francis outdoors the Gemelli hospital. —Agence France-Presse
