VATICAN: Pope Francis was discharged from hospital on Sunday after more than five weeks being treated for pneumonia, waving to cheering crowds and thanking everyone for their support. Looking tired and worn, the pontiff sat in a wheelchair on one of the hospital balconies to say goodbye, waving softly to hundreds of people who had gathered below to wish the head of the Catholic Church a full recovery. Pilgrims chanted his name at the first public sighting of Francis since February 14, when he was admitted to Rome's Gemelli hospital with breathing difficulties and a respiratory illness which developed into pneumonia.
"Thank you, everyone," a weak-sounding Francis said into a microphone, as he waved his hands from his lap, occasionally lifting one to wave in the air and doing an occasional thumbs-up sign. "I can see that woman with yellow flowers, well done," he said with a small smile, to laughter from the crowd.
Francis was on the balcony for two minutes before being discharged from the hospital immediately afterwards. He left by car, waving from the closed window of the front seat as he drove past journalists, and could be seen wearing a cannula -- a plastic tube tucked into his nostrils which delivers oxygen.
The pope, in a white Fiat 500 L, was driven past the Vatican and on to Santa Maria Maggiore, the Rome church where he stops to pray before and after trips. He was then seen arriving back at the Vatican. This was the pope's fourth and longest hospital stay since his 2013 election.
Francis, who had part of one lung removed as a young man and lost weight in hospital, still faces a long recovery of at least two months. The increasingly fragile state of Francis's health has spurred speculation as to whether he could opt to step down and make way for a successor, as his predecessor Benedict XVI had done. — AFP
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