VATICAN CITY. — Pope Francis made his first public appearance in more than five weeks on Sunday, waving from a balcony at Rome’s Gemelli hospital before leaving the facility.
Francis made his appearance shortly after noon on Sunday. Using a wheelchair, as he has for several years, the pope smiled and waved at a group of well-wishers gathered outside below the window.
The pope, whose face looked swollen, appeared only for a few moments. He spoke briefly, with a feeble voice, to thank one of the members of the crowd below, who had brought yellow flowers.
He then left the hospital after five weeks of treatment for pneumonia. A car carrying the 88-year-old pontiff was accompanied through Rome by a convoy of police vehicles.
Francis, 88, went to hospital on February 14 with a severe respiratory infection that became the most serious health crisis of his 12-year papacy.
The pope’s doctors said on Saturday it would still take “a lot of time” for his aging body to fully heal, and said they had prescribed the pontiff a further two months of rest at the Vatican.
