Rome Newsroom, Jun 16, 2023 / 03:10 am (CNA).
Pope Francis was discharged from Rome’s Gemelli Hospital to a round of applause on Friday, after an eight-day stay following abdominal surgery.
He greeted hospital staff and other patients as he left the hospital in a wheelchair June 16. Outside the building, the pope was asked how he was doing by media, to whom he said, “I’m still alive!”
After Francis left in his white Fiat 500, surgeon Dr. Sergio Alfieri told reporters, “The pope is well. He’s better than before,” according to the Associated Press.
According to the Vatican, Pope Francis will lead the Angelus on Sunday as usual and other audiences for the upcoming days will take place.
The pope’s Wednesday morning audience with the public in St. Peter’s Square on June 21 has been canceled, instead, “to safeguard the Holy Father’s postoperative recovery.”
Before returning to the Vatican on Friday, Francis stopped to pray in front of the Salus Populi Romani Marian icon.
The historic icon is kept in a chapel in the Basilica of St. Mary Major. Pope Francis has also stopped there after previous hospitalizations and visits the icon before and after every international trip.
On his approach to the Vatican, he made a quick private visit to a group of religious sisters who run a guesthouse next to St. Peter’s Square.
The Italian Istituto Santissima Maria Bambina (“Institute of the Most Holy Child Mary”) is currently holding its general chapter meeting in Rome.
The pope also thanked the law enforcement who guard the entrance to the Vatican.
According to daily updates from the Vatican, the 86-year-old Pope Francis has been recovering normally after undergoing a three-hour surgery to repair an incisional hernia on June 7.
A team of surgeons removed scar tissue and operated on a hernia in the pope’s abdominal wall at the site of a previous surgical incision.
The June 7-16 stay was Pope Francis’ third hospitalization in the past two years.
He was hospitalized for four days in March for a lung infection and had part of his large intestine removed in July 2021 due to diverticulitis.
If you value the news and views Catholic World Report provides, please consider donating to support our efforts. Your contribution will help us continue to make CWR available to all readers worldwide for free, without a subscription. Thank you for your generosity!
Click here for more information on donating to CWR. Click here to sign up for our newsletter.
Long live the Pontiff. People of goodwill are glad that their prayers have been rewarded. Wishing the Holy Father strength and stamina.