A weak and fragile pope Francis left the hospital on Sunday after surviving a pneumonia attack that can endanger his life, thumbs to an worshiping crowd and divert to pray to a church in Rome before returning home to the Vatican.
A motorhome carried by the 88-year-old pope went through the light traffic in Rome on Sunday morning and continued after arriving in the Vatican city, where many people had aligned the streets to house it at home.
Later, Francis arrived in the city of St. Mary Major Basilica, where he is often praying. Before leaving Gemelli Hospital, Francis gave the thumbs and recognized the crowd after being directed to the balcony overlooking the main entrance.
« I see this woman with the yellow flowers. Brava! » Said a tired Francis of swollen appearance. Gave a weak sign of the cross before being paid inside.
Hundreds of « Viva il Papa! » And « Pope Francis » exploded from the crowd, which included patients who had been shot outside just to take their brief appearance.
His blessing came before starting a period of rest and convalescence of two months. The people also gathered in the Plaza de Sant Pere in the Vatican a brilliant Sunday morning to see the pontiff on the large television screens.
The doctors, who announced their launch scheduled on Saturday evening, said that they should abstain from meeting with large groups of people or exercising, but should finally be able to resume all their normal activities.
His return home, after the longest hospitalization of his 12 -year -old papacy and the second longest in recent papal history, brought tangible relief to the Vatican and Catholic faithful, who have been eagerly after 38 days of medical descent.
« Today I feel great joy, » said Dr. Rossella Russomando, a Salerno doctor who did not treat Francis, but was in Gemelli on Sunday. « It is the demonstration that all our sentences, all the prayers of the rosary around the world caused this grace. »
Access to supplementary oxygen at home
No special agreement was made to Domus Santa Marta, the Vatican Hotel next to the basilica where Francis lives in a two -room suite on the second floor.
The pope will have access to additional oxygen and 24 -hour medical care as needed, although his personal doctor, Dr. Luigi Carbone, said he hoped that Francis would need less and less assistance as his lungs recover.
Although pneumonia infection has been successfully treated, Francis will continue to take oral medication for quite some time to treat fungal infection in its lungs and will continue its respiratory and physical physiotherapy.
« For three or four days he asked when he can return home, so he is very happy, » said Carbone.
The pope, who has a chronic lung disease and was part of a lung eliminated as a young man, was admitted to Gemelli on February 14 after a bronchitis attack worsened.
2 Blood Transfusions
The doctors first diagnosed a complex bacterial, viral and fungal infection, and shortly afterwards pneumonia on both lungs. Blood tests showed signs of anemia, low blood plates and the appearance of renal failure, which were then resolved after two blood transfusions.
The most severe mishap began on February 28, when Francis experienced an acute cough adjustment and inhaled vomit, requiring the use of a non -invasive mechanical ventilation mask to help breathe.
He suffered two respiratory crises a few days later, which required doctors to manually aspire to « copious » amounts of mucus in their lungs, at which time he started sleeping with the ventilation mask at night to help his lungs clean the accumulation of liquids.
The doctors said that Francis was never intubated and at no time lost his conscience.
Dr. Sergio Alfieri, the medical and surgical chief of Gemelli, who coordinated Francis’s medical team, said that the pope’s life was at risk twice, during the two acute respiratory crises.
Alfieri confirmed that Francis still had trouble talking due to damage to his lungs and respiratory muscles. But he said that these problems were normal, especially in older patients and predicted that their voice would end normally.
No confirmed appointments for now
Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni refused to confirm the upcoming events, including a scheduled audience on April 8 with the participation of King Charles III or Francis’s participation in Easter services at the end of the month. But Carbone said he was waiting for Francis to be good enough to travel to Turkey at the end of May to participate in an important ecumenical anniversary.
The Pope also returns to the Vatican in the shootings of a Holy Year, the celebration of once in the fourth century of the quarter scheduled to attract more than 30 million pilgrims to Rome this year. Francis has already lost several retirement audiences and will probably miss several, but Vatican officials say that his absence has not significantly affected the number of expected pilgrims.
Only Saint John Paul II recorded a longer hospitalization in 1981, when he spent 55 days in Gemelli for minor surgery and the treatment of an infection.
Leave a Reply