Pope Francis is to return to his residence in the Vatican on Sunday after his doctors said that was the best place for him to recover following a five-week hospitalisation for pneumonia.

The 88-year-old head of the Catholic Church was “very happy” to hear his health had improved sufficiently for him to leave the Gemelli Hospital in Rome, one of the doctors, Sergio Alfieri, said Saturday.

But the pontiff, who had part of one lung removed as a young man, still faced a recovery period of “at least two months,” Alfieri cautioned.

Pope Francis was expected to be discharged from the hospital in the early afternoon.

The Vatican said he was to make a blessing and wave at well-wishers outside the hospital shortly beforehand, just after midday (1100 GMT), in what would be his first public appearance since February 14.

His hospitalisation since that date was the longest of the pope’s reign, and the fourth since his election in 2013.

The increasingly fragile state of his health has spurred speculation about whether Francis could opt to step down and make way for a successor, as his predecessor Benedict XVI had done.

– ‘A period of rest’ –
The pope’s doctors, speaking to reporters at Gemelli Hospital on Saturday, said Francis was doing better.

The Vatican on Wednesday had said he was now breathing without having to use an oxygen mask.

But Alfieri said: “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 one can contract more infections.”

The doctor said that, on Sunday, “the pope will leave and return to Saint Martha’s House” in the Vatican, where Francis has his residential suite.


https://www.vanguardngr.com/2025/03/pope-set-to-return-to-vatican-after-five-week-hospitalisation/