After the last and almost obvious go-ahead given yesterday evening by the Gemelli doctors, this morning Pope Francis left the Roman polyclinic, where he had been hospitalized in recent days due to infectious bronchitis. Before leaving the facility, the Holy Father greeted the Rector of the Catholic University, Franco Anelli, with his closest collaborators, the Director General of the Polyclinic, Marco Elefanti, the general ecclesiastical assistant of the Catholic University, Monsignor Claudio Giuliodori , and the team of doctors and health workers who assisted him during these days. Before leaving, Pope Francis also embraced a couple of parents who lost their daughter last night and stopped to pray with them. And he signed a child’s cast.
To journalists waiting at the exit, he confided: «I’m still alive, I was not afraid». Then he added: “I know some of you have spent the night here. Thank you, thank you for your good job of informing people”. And to those who asked him if he was frightened, he replied: “I am reminded of something that an old man, someone older than me, told me after a situation in genre ‘Father, I didn’t see death but I saw it coming, it’s bad, eh'”.
After leaving Gemelli, the Holy See reports, Francis went to the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore: «The Pope stopped in front of the icon of Mary, Salus Populi Romani, entrusting to her in prayer the children he met yesterday in the Pediatric Oncology and Child Neurosurgery of the Hospital, all the sick and those who suffer from the disease and the loss of their loved ones”.
Bergoglio will immediately resume normal activity. This can be seen from two facts: the unofficial announcement that tomorrow he will be in the churchyard of St. Peter’s to preside at Mass for Palm Sunday, palm trees that he will bless the Obelisk even before the function, and then the baptism celebrated yesterday afternoon inside of Gemini. A Pope, you can see from the images, smiling and serene.
Already yesterday morning it was clear that the Pope’s condition did not give cause for concern. Then in the evening, a note was released by the Vatican Press Office through its director Matteo Bruni which clarified: “Francis, after having gathered in prayer in the small chapel of his private apartment, received the Eucharist”. Even last night was “quiet”, sources close to the tenth floor told Ansa. So everything has been arranged at the Roman hospital for his resignation and his return to the Vatican is expected in the morning. The safety device to protect your return to Casa Santa Marta is already in place.