The Vatican has announced that Pope Francis will appear in public on Sunday, for the first time in more than five weeks, offering a greeting and blessing from the window of his room at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital.
The 88-year-old pontiff, who has been battling double pneumonia, was admitted to the hospital on February 14 with what the Vatican described as a severe respiratory infection requiring evolving treatment.
Since his admission, the pope has largely remained out of the public eye, with only one image released last week by the Vatican showing him in prayer at a hospital chapel. Sunday’s planned appearance will mark his first visual engagement with the public since his hospitalisation began.
“Francis wants to come to the hospital window around noon on Sunday to give a greeting and blessing,” the Vatican said in a brief statement issued on Saturday.
Traditionally, the pope delivers his weekly noon-time prayer from a window overlooking St. Peter’s Square. However, he has not been able to lead this public devotion since February 9, days before his hospital admission. While he is not expected to recite the prayer this Sunday, his planned greeting is seen as a hopeful sign of recovery.
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Francis, who had part of a lung removed after suffering pleurisy as a young man, is known to be vulnerable to respiratory complications. This latest illness has been described as the most serious health crisis of his 12-year papacy and the longest period he has spent away from the public since his election in 2013.
The Vatican has offered cautiously positive updates in recent days. On Friday, officials noted that the pope had started reducing his reliance on high-flow oxygen therapy.
“The pope is doing very well, but high-flow oxygen dries everything out,” said Cardinal Victor Fernandez, the Vatican’s chief doctrine official. “He needs to relearn how to speak, but his overall physical condition is as it was before.”
Despite the encouraging signs Reuters reports that no official timeline has been given for the pope’s return to the Vatican. However, a scheduled meeting with Britain’s King Charles on April 8 has sparked speculation that Francis could be discharged in time to resume duties from his Vatican residence.
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