The Pope, just out of the hospital, thanks the faithful during the Palm Sunday Mass

Antonino Galofaro, with AFP 13:19 p.m., April 02, 2023

Pope Francis, hospitalized this week for bronchitis, thanked the faithful for their prayers during Palm Sunday Mass, an important event in the Christian calendar marking the start of Holy Week. "I greet all of you, Romans and pilgrims, especially those who have come from afar. I thank you for your participation and also for your prayers, which you have intensified in recent days. Thank you!" said the 86-year-old pontiff as he led the Angelus prayer, the day after he was released from the hospital after a three-day stay.

"I'm still alive"

He briefly greeted the crowd Sunday morning as he moved through St. Peter's Square decorated with more than 35,000 plants and flowers. On board his popemobile, he had displayed a serious air before taking part in this ceremony, at which he had promised to be present, in front of 30,000 people. The pontiff had left Rome's Gemelli Hospital on Saturday after a three-night stay, seeming fit and in a joking mood.

"I'm still alive," he replied, smiling at journalists and worshippers gathered outside the hospital who asked him how he felt. The leader of 1.3 billion Catholics has been suffering from growing health problems for several years, including knee pain that forces him to use a wheelchair and cane.

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During Palm and Easter Masses, he is expected to remain seated while a cardinal leads the ceremony at the altar. According to the Holy See, this organization was decided before his hospitalization, as the Argentine pontiff was no longer able to stand for long.

On Wednesday, the Vatican announced he was going to Gemelli Hospital for scheduled tests, before admitting that he had had difficulty breathing and was suffering from a "respiratory infection" requiring antibiotic treatment. This is his second hospitalization since 2021, when he underwent colon surgery, also in Gemelli.

10 years at the head of the Catholic Church

Pope Francis celebrated ten years at the beginning of March at the head of the global Catholic Church. He pushed through major governance reforms and sought to forge a more open and compassionate church, though he faced internal opposition, particularly from conservatives. He has repeatedly said he would consider resigning -- like his predecessor Benedict XVI, who died in December -- if his health fails, but he said recently that this was not the case.

His previous stay in Gemelli, in July 2021, lasted ten days. He had been admitted for a major colon operation. He claims to have kept "sequelae" of anesthesia, which pushed him to rule out knee surgery so far. In an interview in January, Jorge Bergoglio said he again suffers from diverticulitis, an inflammation of the diverticula, hernias or pouches that form on the walls of the digestive system.

The pope is constantly monitored by a team of caregivers, both in the Vatican and during his travels abroad. A precaution all the more necessary as he has behind him a heavy medical history: at 21, he almost died of pleurisy and had a lung partially removed.