[ad_1]
A chipper-sounding Pope Francis was discharged Saturday from a Rome hospital where he was being treated for bronchitis, laughing with reporters before being discharged that he was “alive.”
Francis, 86, was hospitalized at the Gemelli Polyclinic on Wednesday after his weekly public audience in St. Peter’s Square after reportedly experiencing shortness of breath. The pope received antibiotics administered intravenously during his stay, the Vatican said.
In a sign of better health, the Vatican has published details of Francis’ Holy Week schedule. He said he will preside at Palm Sunday Mass this weekend at St. Peter’s Square and at the outdoor Easter Mass on April 9. Vatican cardinals will be at the altar to celebrate both Masses, a new practice because the pope has a difficult knee. issue.
But Francis is expected to celebrate Holy Thursday Mass, which this year will be held in a juvenile prison in Rome. It is still unclear whether he will attend the Way of the Cross procession at night at Rome’s Colosseum to mark Good Friday.
Before leaving the Gemelli Polyclinic late Saturday morning, Francis was emotional with a Roma couple whose five-year-old daughter died on Friday in a Catholic hospital. Outside, Serena Subania, Angelica’s mother, wept as she buried her head in the Pope’s chest, who held her and spoke words of comfort.
Francis seemed eager to linger with well-wishers. When a boy shows his hand, Pope makes a gesture like asking “Do you have a pen?” Three papal aides beat him. Francis took one of the pens and added a signature to the child’s cast which has also been autographed.
The Pope answered in a low voice close to a whisper as reporters asked him questions, indicating he was not feeling well – “I feel pain,” he said, pointing to his midsection – a symptom that convinced medical staff. Wednesday brought to the hospital.
Asked how he feels now, Francis joked, “Still alive, you know.” He gave the thumbs up.
Francis left the hospital through a side door, but his car stopped in front of the main door, where reporters were waiting. He opened the car door himself and got out of the front passenger seat. Francis had a cane ready to lean on.
After the conversation, he returned to the white Fiat 500 car that drove away from the Gemelli Polyclinic. But instead of going home, the motorcade crossed the Vatican City and went to the main Basilica of St. Mary, a favorite Rome landmark.
There, stunned tourists rushed to take photos of her as she sat in a wheelchair, which she had often used to navigate longer distances in recent years due to chronic knee problems. When he came out after the prayer, residents and tourists on the street repeatedly shouted, “Hail the Pope!” and applause.
Francis spent 10 days in the same hospital in July 2021 after bowel surgery due to intestinal narrowing, After his release, he also stopped to say a prayer of thanks at the Basilica of St. . He also visits the church when he returns from a trip abroad.
Before leaving the hospital on Saturday, Francis, while talking to reporters, praised the medical workers, saying they “showed great tenderness.”
Kudos to health workers
“Sick people are capricious. I really like people who work in hospitals,” he said. Francis also said he read journalists’ reports of his illness, including in daily newspapers in Rome, and said it was over.
Francis stopped again to talk to reporters before being driven into the Vatican through the gates of the small walled city-state, where he is staying at the Holy See hotel. Speaking through an open car window, he said: “Happy Easter to everyone, and pray for me.”
Then, indicating that he wanted to continue his routine, he said, “Go ahead, thank you.”
At another stop, he got out of his car to hand out chocolate Easter eggs to a police officer who was driving a motorcycle over the head of a motorcyclist.
Because of his low voice, it is unclear whether the Pope will be able to read his homily at the Palm Sunday service. He told reporters that after Mass, he would keep his weekly appointment to greet and bless the people in St. Paul’s Square.
As a young man in his native Argentina, Francis had part of his lung removed, leaving him vulnerable to respiratory illnesses.
[ad_2]
Source link