Pope Francis’ personal aid for health, Massimiliano Streppetti accompanies him at the end of his appearance at a window of the Agostino Gemelli Polyclinic in Rome on March 23, 2025.
| Photo Credit: AP
Pope Francis returned to the Vatican on Sunday (March 23, 2025) after a five-week hospitalisation for life-threatening double pneumonia, and he made a surprise stop at his favorite basilica on the way home before beginning two months of prescribed rest and recovery.
The 88-year-old pope sat in the front passenger seat of his white Fiat 500L wearing nasal tubes to give him supplemental oxygen as he entered the Perugino gate of Vatican City, where his return brought relief after fears that his illness could be fatal or lead to another papal resignation.
Pope Francis’ motorcade from Gemelli hospital overshot the Vatican initially and took a detour across town to stop at St. Mary Major basilica, where the pope’s favorite icon of the Madonna is located and where he always goes to pray after a foreign visit.
He didn’t get out of the car but gave a bouquet of flowers to the basilica’s cardinal to place in front of the Salus populi Romani icon. The Byzantine-style painting on wood is revered by Romans and is so important to Pope Francis that he has chosen to be buried in the basilica to be near it.
The tour through Rome’s historic center came after Pope Francis made his first appearance in five weeks to give a thumbs-up and brief blessing from a hospital balcony. Hundreds of people had gathered on a brilliant spring Sunday (March 23, 2025) morning to say goodbye and catch a first glimpse of Pope Francis, who seemed to be gasping for air.
“I see this woman with the yellow flowers. Brava!” a bloated-looking Pope Francis said in a breathless voice. He gave a weak sign of the cross before being wheeled back inside.
Chants of “Viva il papa!” and “Papa Francesco” erupted from the crowd, which included patients who had been wheeled outside just to catch his brief appearance.
Doctors say Pope Francis needs two months of rest and convalescence at the Vatican, during which he should refrain from meeting with big groups of people or exerting himself. But they said he should be able to resume all his normal activities eventually.
His return home, after the longest hospitalisation of his 12-year papacy and the second-longest in recent papal history, brought tangible relief to the Vatican and Catholic faithful who have been anxiously following 38 days of medical ups and downs and wondering if Pope Francis would make it.
“Today I feel a great joy,” said Dr. Rossella Russomando, who was at Gemelli on Sunday (March 23, 2025) but did not treat Francis. “It is the demonstration that all our prayers, all the rosary prayers from all over the world, brought this grace.”
At the Vatican, where a Holy Year is under way, pilgrims cheered and applauded when Francis’ greeting from Gemelli was broadcast live on giant TV screens in St. Peter’s Square.
“For me it was an important emotional experience to see him, because many people were waiting for this moment,” said Sister Luisa Jimènez, a nun from Francis’ native Argentina.
No special arrangements have been made at the Domus Santa Marta, the Vatican hotel where Pope Francis lives in a two-room suite on the second floor next to the basilica. He will have supplemental oxygen and 24-hour medical care as needed, although his personal physician, Dr. Luigi Carbone, said he hoped Pope Francis would progressively need less and less assistance breathing as his lungs recover.
The Argentine pope, who has chronic lung disease and had part of one lung removed as a young man, was admitted to Gemelli on Feb. 14 after a bout of bronchitis worsened.
Doctors first diagnosed a complex bacterial, viral and fungal respiratory tract infection and soon thereafter, pneumonia in both lungs. Blood tests showed signs of anemia, low blood platelets and the onset of kidney failure, all of which later resolved after two blood transfusions.
Dr. Sergio Alfieri, the medical and surgical chief at Gemelli who coordinated Pope Francis’ medical team, stressed that not all patients who develop such a severe cases of double pneumonia survive, much less are released from the hospital. He said Pope Francis’ life was at risk twice, during the two acute respiratory crises, and that the pope at the time understandably lost his typical good sense of humor.
Dr. Alfieri confirmed that Pope Francis was still having trouble speaking due to the damage to his lungs and respiratory muscles. But he said such problems were normal, especially in older patients, and predicted his voice would eventually return. Pope Francis is also continuing to take medication to treat a more minor respiratory infection.
Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni declined to confirm any upcoming events, including a scheduled audience on April 8 with King Charles III or Pope Francis’ participation in Easter services at the end of the month. But Carbone said he hoped Pope Francis might be well enough to travel to Turkey at the end of May to participate in an important ecumenical anniversary.
Only St. John Paul II recorded a longer hospitalization in 1981, when he spent 55 days at Gemelli for minor surgery and treatment of an infection.
Published – March 24, 2025 04:28 am IST