Pope Francis was released from the hospital on March 23 after surviving a life-threatening case of pneumonia.
Francis, 88, made his first public appearance in five weeks on March 23 when he appeared on a balcony at Rome’s Gemelli hospital to bless a crowd of hundreds that had gathered to see him. Many chanted “Viva il papa!” and “Papa Francesco” as he looked down from above. The pope was then released to the Vatican, where he will undergo a two-month period of rehabilitation and convalescence.
Francis was admitted to the hospital on Feb. 14 after a case of bronchitis progressed. He was diagnosed with a complex bacterial, viral, and fungal respiratory tract infection, and he soon had pneumonia in both lungs. The Argentine pope had part of one lung removed when he was young and suffers from chronic lung disease.
His 38 days at Gemelli were Francis’s longest hospital stay of his 12 years as pope and the second longest in recent papal history. The uncertainty of the pope’s condition raised questions about a potential papal resignation or funeral.
The pope’s doctors said he should avoid exerting himself or meeting with large groups of people, but he will eventually be allowed to continue with his normal activities.
Francis’s personal physician, Dr. Luigi Carbone, said he was hoping the pope would require increasingly less help breathing on supplemental oxygen as his lungs recover from the infection.
With his pneumonia successfully treated, Francis will keep taking oral medication for a while to treat his lung fungal infection while continuing respiratory and physical physiotherapy.
“For three or four days, he’s been asking when he can go home, so he’s very happy,” Carbone said.
The pope’s doctors first diagnosed the complex bacterial, viral, and fungal respiratory tract infection soon after he was admitted to the hospital on Feb. 14. His blood tests also indicated signs of anemia, low blood platelets, and the beginnings of kidney failure. All three were resolved following two blood transfusions.
However, Francis faced a setback on Feb. 28 when he suffered an acute coughing fit and inhaled vomit. He had to use a noninvasive mechanical ventilation mask to assist with breathing.
The pope experienced two additional respiratory crises several days later, requiring doctors to manually aspirate “copious” levels of mucus from each lung. At that point, Francis started sleeping with the ventilation mask on to keep his lungs clear of excessive fluids.
Despite the complications, the pope never needed intubation and at no point lost consciousness, remaining alert and cooperative, his doctors reported. He has, however, lost a small amount of weight, given his reduced appetite.
