A weak and frail Pope Francis left the hospital on Sunday, after surviving a five -week, life -threatening pneumonia, a fingers crossed and undertook a detour to pray in a church in the Rome region before returning to the Vatican.
A car column that turned the 88-year-old Pope on Sunday morning through the light traffic in Rome and after reaching the Vatican City, where crowds had reached the streets to welcome him at home.
Francis later arrived through the city in St. Mary Major Basilica, where he often goes to pray. Before he left the Gemelli Hospital, Francis gave up a thumb and recognized the crowd after being thrown on the balcony with a view of the main entrance.
“I see this woman with the yellow flowers. Brava!” A tired and bloated Francis said. He gave a weak sign of the cross before it was driven back inside.
Sangs of “Viva Il Papa!” And “Papa Francesco” broke out of the crowd to which patients belonged who were rolled outside, just to recognize his short appearance.
His blessing came before he started a two -month time of calm and recovery. People also gathered at St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican on a brilliant Sunday morning to see the Pope on large television screens.
The doctors, who announced his planned publication on Saturday evening, said that he should refrain from meeting large groups of people or exercising themselves, but after all, he should be able to resume all of his normal activities.
His return home, after the longest hospital stay of his 12-year papacy and the second longest in the recent papal history, brought the Vatican and Catholic believers a concrete relief that have followed an anxious 38-day medical heights and depths.
“Today I feel great joy,” said Dr. Rossella Russeomando, a doctor from Salerno who did not treat Francis, but was in Gemelli on Sunday. “It is the demonstration that all of our prayers, all rosary prayers from all over the world, have brought this grace.”
Access to additional oxygen at home
In the Domus Santa Marta, the Vatican hotel next to the basilica, in which Francis lives in a two-room suite on the second floor, no special precautions were taken.
The Pope will have access to additional oxygen and 24-hour medical care as required, even though his personal doctor Dr. Luigi Carbone hoped that Francis would gradually need less and less help in breathing if his lungs recover.
While the pneumonia infection has been successfully treated, Francis will continue to take oral medication for some time to treat the fungal infection in its lungs and continue its breathing and physical physiotherapy.
“He has asked when he could go home for three or four days, so he is very happy,” said Carbone.
The Pope, who has a chronic lung disease and had removed part of a lung as a young man, was admitted to Gemelli on February 14 after bronchitis deteriorated.
2 blood transfusions
The doctors initially diagnosed a complex bacterial, virus and mushroom daily infection and soon after pneumonia in both lungs. Blood tests showed signs of anemia, low platelets and the insertion of the kidney failure, which later dissolved after two blood transfusions.
The most serious setbacks began on February 28, when Francis had an acute cough adjustment and an inhalative vomit experienced, which required the use of a non -invasive mechanical ventilation mask to help him.
A few days later, he suffered two other respiratory crises, making the doctors manually holding the “abundant” amounts of mucus from his lungs. At that time he started sleeping with the ventilation mask at night to help his lungs clarify the accumulation of liquids.
Francis was never intubated and never lost consciousness, said doctors.
Dr. Sergio Alfieri, the medical and surgical boss at Gemelli, who coordinated the medical team of Francis, said that the life of the Pope was twice jeopardized during the two acute respiratory crises.
Alfieri confirmed that Francis still had problems due to the damage of his lungs and respiratory muscles. But he said such problems were normal, especially in the elderly, and predicted that his voice would finally normalize himself again.
No confirmed dates for the time being
The Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni refused to confirm all upcoming events, including a planned audience on April 8 with King Charles III or Francis’ participation in the Easter services at the end of the month. But Carbone said he hoped that Francis could travel well enough to Turkey at the end of May to take part in an important ecumenical anniversary.
The Pope also returns to the Vatican in the Vaticans in a Holy Year, the celebrated celebration of the century, which are to move more than 30 million pilgrims to Rome this year. Francis has already missed several anniversary audiences and will probably miss several more, but the Vatican officials say that his absence has not significantly influenced the number of expected pilgrims who arrive.
Only the St. John Paul II recorded a longer hospital stay in 1981 when he spent 55 days in Gemelli for a minor surgery and treatment of an infection.
