Pope Francis is expected to leave hospital tomorrow after rapid recovery
Pope Francis is expected to leave hospital tomorrow after a speedy recovery that saw him eat pizza with staff and even baptize a baby.
Concerns about the pope’s health grew on Wednesday when the Vatican announced that the 86-year-old man would be kept in hospital for “a few days” to treat a respiratory infection that was causing breathing difficulties.
But the pope has now received permission from doctors to be released from Rome’s Gemeli hospital on Saturday.
Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni also said Francis will be in St Peter’s Square at the start of Holy Week for Palm Sunday Mass, though he did not say whether the pope would deliver the homily during the particularly long service.
“The medical team following His Holiness Pope Francis, after evaluating the results of the tests carried out today and the favorable clinical recovery, confirmed his discharge on Saturday,” Mr Bruni said in a written statement Friday evening.
Pope Francis is expected to leave hospital tomorrow after a speedy recovery that saw him eat pizza with staff and even baptize a baby
Concerns about the pope’s health grew on Wednesday when the Vatican announced that the 86-year-old man would be kept in hospital for “a few days” to treat a respiratory infection. He was seen grinning earlier that day
Throughout the day, heartwarming images surfaced of the pope baptizing a baby in the hospital and visiting the children’s ward.
In a video of the baptism released by the Vatican, after mother Francis tells the boy’s name, Miguel Angel, the pope uses a metal hospital tray usually used to hold syringes to pour water over the head of the sleeping man. baby pour.
He then tries to comfort the child, who wakes up crying and seems to knock the pope’s hand away.
Then the pope asks the mother to wipe her son’s wet forehead before telling her, “When you go to your parish, say the pope baptized him.”
Calling the pope’s medical recovery “normal,” Mr Bruni said earlier in the day on Thursday evening, “Pope Francis had eaten, ate a pizza, along with all those who assist him in these days of hospital stay” , including doctors, nurses, assistants and Vatican security personnel.
The Vatican said the pope had responded well to antibiotic treatment for bronchitis, resulting in a “marked” improvement in his health.
He smiled as he visited a childhood cancer ward and handed out large, wrapped chocolate Easter eggs.
Earlier in the day, Francis sent out a tweet on Friday, possibly inspired by his current health challenge.
The pope also visited a childhood cancer ward at Gemelli Hospital, where he handed over babies Easter eggs
The Vatican said the pope (pictured in the oncology ward) had responded well to antibiotic treatment for bronchitis, resulting in a “marked” improvement in his health.
The pope has been cleared by doctors to be released from Rome’s Gemeli hospital on Saturday. Pictured: Pope Francis writes in a guest book
“As we experience the trials and difficulties of life with faith, they serve to purify our hearts, make them more humble, and thereby open them more and more to God,” Francis wrote.
The Vatican seemed eager to quickly address any concerns about the pope’s physical fitness to fully carry out his duties.
Almost immediately after announcing a resignation date for Francis, the Vatican announced that the Pope would meet the Prime Minister of Bosnia and Herzegovina in a private audience at the Apostolic Palace on Monday.
The hospital stay came days before the pope’s busiest time of the year with the Palm Sunday Mass just around the corner, which usually draws tens of thousands of worshipers, many of them pilgrims from abroad, to Rome for Holy Week.
Francis had already largely stopped celebrating Mass on major Catholic Church holy days due to a chronic knee problem, but he continued to preside over ceremonies and deliver sermons.
Holy Week appointments include an exhausting late-night Stations of the Cross procession marked by prayers on Good Friday at Rome’s Colosseum and Easter Mass on April 9, which is traditionally followed by a lengthy papal address from the central balcony of the church. St. Peter’s Basilica.
During the hour-long public audience on Wednesday, Francis appeared to be in visible pain at times when he moved and was helped by aides.
In July 2021, Francis underwent surgery at Gemelli Polyclinic after suffering from a narrowing of his colon. As a young man in Argentina, Francis had part of a lung removed and often speaks in a whisper.