LAST UPDATE | 23 Mar

POPE FRANCIS MADE a brief appearance today after he was released from hospital, where he spent five weeks.

The 88-year-old pontiff was treated for pneumonia and a respiratory infection.

The Pope’s doctor, Luigi Carbone, said the Pope is improving and hopes he can resume activities soon. 

The Vatican said it will take time for his voice to return to normal, and he will need at least two months to recover.

However, today Francis addressed crowds outside the Gemelli hospital.

Sitting in a wheelchair, a staff member held a microphone for him. He told the public in Italian: “Thank you, everyone.”

He also remarked on a woman below who had brought him flowers.

Francis will now return to the Santa Marta.

At a press conference last night, spokespersons for Francis said that he had not had Covid, and wanted to return home several days ago. However, his doctors decided that he should be discharged on Sunday.

The serious infections suffered by the Pope have been overcome, the Vatican representatives told journalists, but the overall infection is not completely healed, hence the need for convalescence.

Calls for peace

Separately,  Francis today called for an “immediate” end to Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip, and for the resumption of dialogue for the release of hostages and a “definitive ceasefire”.

The health ministry in Gaza said today that at least 50,021 people have been killed in the Palestinian territory since war with Israel began in October 2023.

“I am saddened by the resumption of heavy Israeli bombing on the Gaza Strip, causing many deaths and injuries.

“In the Strip, the humanitarian situation is again very serious and requires urgent commitment from the conflicting parties and the international community,” Francis wrote in an Angelus prayer.

“I ask that the weapons be silenced immediately and that the courage be found to resume dialogue so that all the hostages can be freed and a definitive ceasefire reached.”