Pope returns to Vatican after 38 days in hospital

By CathNews New Zealand

March 25th, 2025

Pope Francis, whose arms are bandaged, waves to a crowd of well-wishers at Rome's Gemelli hospital before returning to the Vatican on March 23, after 38 days of treatment at the hospital. (CNS photo/Pablo Esparza)

Pope Francis has returned to the Vatican after five weeks in hospital being treated for breathing difficulties, double pneumonia and infections. Source: Catholic News Service.

Immediately after leaving Rome’s Gemelli Hospital on March 23, the Pope greeted hundreds of people who gathered outside. With a very weak voice, Pope Francis thanked the crowd, waving his hands and giving a thumbs up. He also pointed to a woman carrying a yellow-wrapped bouquet of flowers and told the crowd, “She’s good”.

An aide had pushed Pope Francis in his wheelchair onto the balcony overlooking the square outside the hospital. The Pope left the hospital almost immediately after his appearance on the balcony.

The motorcycle police leading the Pope’s motorcade turned onto the street leading to the Vatican entrance closest to his residence and then turned around.

Rather than go directly home, Pope Francis was driven through the centre of Rome to the Basilica of St Mary Major, where he has prayed before and after every foreign trip and after his two previous hospitalisations for abdominal surgery.

Pope Francis did not go into the church, but left a bouquet of flowers to be placed on the altar under the Marian icon “Salus Populi Romani” or “Health of the Roman People”.

Television footage of the Pope, seated in the front seat of a white Fiat, showed he was using oxygen through a nasal tube.

Just before the 88-year-old had come out on the hospital balcony, the Vatican released a text Pope Francis had prepared for the midday Angelus prayer. He mentioned the care he had received at the hospital and urged prayers for peace and commented on current events.

Dr Sergio Alfieri, head of the medical team treating the Pope, had told reporters on March 22 that, in his rooms at the Domus Sanctae Marthae, the Pope will continue using oxygen as needed through a nasal tube, will be taking medication to fight a lingering mycosis, a fungal infection, and will be continuing his physical therapy and respiratory therapy.

The Pope’s doctors have prescribed two months of rest and recuperation and have urged the Pope not to meet with large groups during that time. They also said his voice will require time to recover.

FULL STORY

Pope returns to Vatican after long hospitalization (By Cindy Wooden/CNS)