Pope returns home after 5-week hospital stay for pneumonia

Before leaving the hospital, Francis gave a thumbs up and acknowledged the crowd after he was wheeled out onto the balcony overlooking the main entry.

A weak and frail Pope Francis returned home to the Vatican from the hospital on Sunday after surviving a five-week, life-threatening bout of pneumonia, making a surprise stop at his favorite basilica on the way home before beginning two months of prescribed rest and recovery.

The motorcade carrying the 88-year-old pope entered the Perugino gate into Vatican City, and Francis was seen in the front passenger seat wearing nasal tubes to give him supplemental oxygen.

During the trip home from Gemelli hospital, Francis took a slight detour to bring him to the St. Mary Major basilica, where his favorite icon of the Madonna is located and where he always goes to pray after a foreign visit. Francis didn’t get out of the car, but handed a bouquet of flowers to the cardinal to place in front of the Salus populi Romani icon, a Byzantine-style painting on wood that is revered by Romans.

Before leaving the hospital, Francis gave a thumbs up and acknowledged the crowd after he was wheeled out onto the balcony overlooking the main entry. Hundreds of people had gathered on a brilliant Sunday morning to say goodbye.

“I see this woman with the yellow flowers. Brava!” a tired and bloated-looking Francis said. He gave a weak sign of the cross before being wheeled back inside.

Chants of “Viva il papa!” and “Papa Francesco” erupted from the crowd, which included patients who had been wheeled outside just to catch his brief appearance.

Doctors, who announced his planned release at a Saturday evening news conference, said he needs two months of rest and convalescence, during which he should refrain from meeting with big groups of people or exerting himself. But they said eventually he should be able to resume all his normal activities.

His return home, after the longest hospitalization of his 12-year papacy and the second-longest in recent papal history, brought tangible relief to the Vatican and Catholic faithful who have been anxiously following 38 days of medical ups and downs and wondering if Francis would make it.