Pope Francis Reappears in Public: This Is How He Left the Hospital

The Pope appeared in a wheelchair, visibly swollen and with evident difficulty to speak. He could scarcely raise his hands to greet and then to bless.

(ZENIT News / Rome, 23.03.2025).- Just after 12 o’clock noon on Sunday, March 23, Pope Francis let himself be seen after 37 days in Rome’s Gemelli Hospital.

Before appearing on the balcony, of the fifth floor of the Hospital, to greet and impart his blessing, Pope Francis briefly greeted the staff and senior management of the Catholic University and the Gemelli Policlinic: the Rector of the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Professor Elena Beccalli; the President of the Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli IRCCS, Dr Daniele Franco; also the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery of the Università Cattolica, Professor Antonio Gasbarrini; the Vice-President of the Fondazione Policlinico A. Gemelli IRCCS, Professor Marco Elefanti; the General Ecclesiastical Assistant of the Catholic University, Monsignor Claudio Giuliodori; Professor Sergio Alfieri, Director of the Department of Medical-Surgical Sciences of the Gemelli Polyclinic, and Dr Andrea Cambieri.

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The Pope appeared in a wheelchair, visibly swollen and with evident difficulty to speak. He could scarcely raise his hands to greet and then to bless. And the only words he said were for Carmela Vitoria Mancusco, a Roman woman who throughout the year gives flowers to the Pope during the Wednesday General Audiences: “thank you to all. I see that lady with the yellow flowers. She is good.”

Before returning to Casa Santa Marta after leaving the Hospital, Pope Francis went to the Basilica of Saint Mary Major, where he gave the flowers he had just received from Mrs. Carmela Mancusco to Cardinal Makrikas, to lay them before the icon of the Virgin Salus Populi Romani. It was obvious that the Pope wanted to go to the Chapel, they even brought him a wheelchair, but he couldn’t get down.

The Holy Father then went to his residence in the Vatican’s Casa Santa Marta. There he is facing two months of absolute rest and convalescence. This period implies his absence from the Holy Week religious services and the Canonization of Blessed Carlo Acutis, one of the most popular events of the 2025 Jubilee.