Pope Francis will be discharged from Rome’s Gemelli Hospital on Sunday, the Vatican said on Saturday afternoon, with the Holy Father leaving the facility after spending more than a month there amid a health crisis.
Hospital officials said on Saturday that the pope will continue convalescing at his apartment in Casa Santa Marta for at least two months.
Francis first entered the hospital on Feb. 14, more than a month ago. He was treated for several conditions while there including bilateral pneumonia.
Sergio Alfieri, the director of the department of medical and surgical sciences at the hospital, said at a Saturday press conference that Francis would undergo a “protected discharge” and that he will “still have to carry out” treatment “for a long time.”
The pope will continue to receive oxygen during his ongoing convalescence, Alfieri said.
As recently as Friday doctors were still uncertain as to when the Holy Father would be discharged from the hospital. In recent days the Vatican has regularly reported that the pope’s condition has continued to improve.
The Vatican had said earlier on Saturday that Francis would make his first public appearance in weeks on Sunday, with the pope scheduled to appear at a window of the Gemelli Hospital and greet visitors following the Angelus prayer.
Alfieri said on Saturday that doctors at the hospital “were all in charge to try to solve the problem” of the pope’s health struggles.
“Today we are happy to say that tomorrow he will be home,” he said.
Source: Angelus News
