The state of Pope Francis has improved enough for him to be returned from a hospital in Rome on Sunday and sent to recover to the Vatican for at least two months, his doctors announced on Saturday evening.
They added that his case of pneumonia in both lungs had been so serious that he had twice put his life in serious danger.
The doctors said that the state of the pope had been stable in the past two weeks and that he had overcome his most dangerous infections, but that he was not completely healed and had to rest for at least two months.
He would need therapy and oxygen, as it is normal for patients who recovering from pneumonia, before being able to resume his regular schedule, said his doctors. They asked that the Pope will avoid meeting large groups, people with young children and other possible sources of infection.
Dr. Sergio Alfieri, the head of the medical team taking care of the Pope, said the pontiff asked days when he could go home.
“He was very happy,” said Dr. Alfieri.
For weeks, Catholics around the world are praying for the recovery of the Pope, and since February 25, the cardinals have led a night-rider prayer to Saint-Pierre square which attracts hundreds of faithful every night.
Pope Francis was admitted to the hospital on February 14 with bronchitis, which developed in pneumonia in the two lungs, complicated by a microbial track infection. Doctors did not mock words when they held a press conference at Gemelli hospital on February 21, warning that it was “not out of danger”, due to his age and chronic pulmonary illness.
For several weeks, Francis remained in critical condition, because he experienced an asthmatic respiratory crisis, initial renal failure, slight insufficiency and a bronchial spasm that led him to inhale his vomit after a cough adjustment. It used non -invasive mechanical ventilation during the night, alternating with high speed oxygen therapy during the day.
On March 10, the Vatican announced that Pope Francis had improved enough to no longer be taken into account in an imminent danger of pneumonia and other infections, but said that he would need more days of patient treatment. It started to slowly reduce its use of oxygen therapy.
Last Sunday, the Vatican published the first photo of the pontiff since he entered the hospital and announced on Saturday that Francis could appear on the Balcon of Gemelli to confer the blessing of Angelus tomorrow.
Francis was already fragile. He had part of a lung as a young man withdrawn, and in recent years, he has struggled against a certain number of health problems, using a wheelchair or a cane to move. He was hospitalized with bronchitis in 2023, and a few months later to undergo abdominal surgery for hernia, linked to colon surgery he suffered in 2021.
Francis often fought against bronchitis during the winter months, but that had not prevented the Pope from maintaining an exhausting calendar in the weeks preceding his hospitalization, intensified by the opening of the 2025 jubilee, a year of faith, penance and forgiveness of sins that only take place every quarter of a century.
