Pope Francis will be discharged from the hospital on Sunday, March 23, and will return home to the Vatican, his doctors announced at a surprise press conference at the Gemelli Hospital just after 6 p.m. on March 22. But he must continue the therapies and observe “a period of rest and convalescence for at least two months,” they said.
Dr. Sergio Alfieri, the surgeon who operated on him twice (in 2021 and 2023) and is the leader of the medical team that cared for him since his admission to hospital on Feb. 14, announced to the press “the good news that tomorrow the pope will be discharged from the Gemelli Hospital and return to Santa Marta.”
He said doctors made the decision to discharge Pope Francis after his condition was stable for at least the past two weeks. The decision was not made under pressure from the pope although he wanted to return to the Vatican.
“He no longer has bilateral pneumonia. The most serious infection of the lungs has been overcome,” Dr. Alfieri said. “But he still has some viruses that will take several months to overcome.” He explained that the pope had various microbes and germs with the pneumonia and said, “when you have bi-lateral pneumonia your lungs are damaged” and it takes time to recover.
He said it will take time to fully regain his voice, and while he has made progress over the past 10 days, it will require more time and therapy.
He said the pope “will have to continue at home [in Santa Marta] the therapies that he had in the hospital,” meaning oral medication, as well as the respiratory and physio therapies.
Dr. Alfieri said “the pope’s life was in danger in two critical situations” during his time in hospital, but the doctors managed to bring him through those crises. He emphasized that the pope “was never intubated,” and “was always alert and oriented.” The doctor noted that the pope does not have diabetes and did not have Covid.
Asked if the pope had lost weight during this time in hospital, Dr. Alfieri said, “We have not weighed him, but it’s evident that he has lost weight. You will see tomorrow.” He said the pope ate less when he was very ill, but now that he is better, he’s progressively eating more.
He described the 88-year-old pope as “an exemplary patient, who listened to the doctors,” and was usually in “good humor” except in the serious crises when it was difficult to be in good humor. But, he recalled, that when the doctor asked him after those crisis moments how he was feeling, he would respond, “I am alive.”
Dr. Luigi Carbone, the deputy head of the Vatican’s medical service, who was part of the medical team and was with Dr. Alfieri at the press conference, explained that keeping Pope Francis in hospital longer than necessary carried a serious risk of getting other infections, so “we preferred to return him to Santa Marta” the Vatican guesthouse where he has lived since his election. “The hospital is the worst place for convalescence,” he said.
He emphasized that the pope is returning home after 38 days in hospital in “a protected convalescence for at least two months.” He said they have prepared for his return to Santa Marta, and he will have the things he needs for his recovery there, including the various therapies mentioned earlier. Moreover, he said, the Vatican’s health service provides a 24/7 emergency service.
He can’t have meetings with large groups of people, and must also avoid people with any infection during this period of convalescence. Dr. Alfieri noted that even when he was in hospital he continued to do some work, and he expected he would continue doing work also during his convalescence.
Asked whether he would meet King Charles III and Queen Camilla on April 8, the Vatican spokesman, Matteo Bruni, said we have to wait and see how his convalescence progresses. The same answer was given in regard to whether he would participate in the Easter celebrations, or at the canonization of Carlo Acutis, the teenage saint to be.
Responding to a question whether he would be able to travel to Turkey at the end of May for the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicea, Dr. Carbone said, “since we’re dealing with convalescence we cannot make predictions. We hope he will, but we have to see how he is then.”
Mr. Bruni said Pope Francis will greet and bless people from the window of his hospital suite tomorrow at midday, and in the afternoon “he will return home.”
