After three days of treatment for bronchitis, Pope Francis will be discharged from hospital on Saturday and return to the Vatican, where he will lead a Palm Sunday Mass marking the start of Easter celebrations.
On Friday, the 86-year-old Argentine Jesuit made a surprise visit to the pediatric oncology ward at the Gemelli Hospital in Rome, bringing chocolate eggs, rosaries and books to the children. François also baptized a baby born a few weeks later. In the video and photos released by the Vatican, we see the Pope sprinkling holy water on the newborn’s head, writing on a piece of paper, smiling and leaning on a walker.
After two days of media rumours, the Vatican confirmed that Bam would lead the Palm Sunday Mass in St Peter’s Square and that the Pope would leave the hospital on Saturday. The festival marks the beginning of the Holy Week leading up to the Easter celebrations, the main highlight of the year for Catholics.
The Bishop of Rome, who was hospitalized on Wednesday due to shortness of breath, soon recovered and returned to work on Thursday. Francis, who is chronically ill and uses a wheelchair due to knee pain, was staying in a private papal residence on the 10th floor of Gemelli University Hospital in 1981.
Already hospitalized in July 2021
The Bishop of Rome had already been hospitalized for ten days in July 2021 at Gemelli Hospital for serious colon surgery. He admits to having had side effects from the anesthesia, which has forced him to rule out knee surgery until now.
The pain from the joint, which forced him to cancel several appointments and postpone a trip to Africa in particular in 2022, is at the center of speculation about his possible abdication.
The head of the Catholic Church has always kept the door open to this possibility. His predecessor, Benedict XVI, stepped down in 2013, taking the world by surprise.
After hinting at the possibility of “resigning himself” in July, he ruled in February that the “resignation” of a pope “must not become a fashion.” .
The Pope is regularly monitored by a team of caretakers at the Vatican and during his trips abroad. Because he had a serious medical history behind him, the precaution was necessary: at the age of 21, he almost died of pleurisy and partially removed a lung.
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