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Pope Waves, Says ‘Thank You’ After Returning Home From Hospital

Published

6 months ago

March 23, 2025

Pope Francis returned to the Vatican on Sunday after being discharged from the hospital where he spent more than five weeks being treated for breathing difficulties, but took time before leaving to thank well-wishers for their support.

Looking tired and worn, the pontiff sat in a wheelchair on one of the hospital balconies to say goodbye, waving softly to hundreds of people who had gathered below to wish the head of the Catholic Church a full recovery.

Pilgrims chanted his name at the first public sighting of Francis since February 14, when he was admitted to Rome’s Gemelli hospital with breathing difficulties and a respiratory illness which developed into pneumonia.

“Thank you, everyone,” a weak-sounding Francis said into a microphone, as he waved his hands from his lap, doing an occasional thumbs-up sign.

“I can see that woman with yellow flowers, well done,” he said with a small smile, to laughter from the crowd.

Francis, who had bags under his eyes, was on the balcony for two minutes before being discharged from the hospital immediately afterwards.

He left by car wearing a cannula — a plastic tube tucked into his nostrils which delivers oxygen.

– ‘Joy’ –
Seeing Francis “just filled me and I think many of the people who are here with a great sense of joy,” Larry James Kulick, a bishop from Pennsylvania in the United States, told AFP.

“It was just a wonderful opportunity to see him and I think he responded so much to the people’s prayers and to all of the chanting,” he said at the Gemelli.

“I hope it lifted his spirits, I think it did.”

Domenico Papisca Marra, a 69-year-old Catholic from Reggio Calabria in southern Italy, said he had come as soon as he heard Francis would be appearing.

“I am really happy to have seen him… I am in really love with Pope Francis,” he said.

The pope, in a white Fiat 500 L, was driven past the Vatican and on to Santa Maria Maggiore, the Rome church where he stops to pray before and after trips.

He was then seen arriving back at the Vatican.

Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on X, formerly Twitter, that she was “happy” that Francis had returned home. She expressed her “affection and gratitude for his tireless commitment and his precious guidance”.

This was the pope’s fourth and longest hospital stay since his 2013 election.

Francis, who had part of one lung removed as a young man and lost weight in hospital, still faces a long recovery of at least two months.

READ: ‘A Priest Cannot Look At Such Things’ – Pope Francis Imposed TV Ban On Himself

The increasingly fragile state of Francis’s health has spurred speculation as to whether he could opt to step down and make way for a successor, as his predecessor Benedict XVI had done.

– ‘A period of rest’ –
The pope suffered repeat respiratory crises during his stay, leading doctors to perform bronchoscopies to remove secretions from his lungs and carry out a blood transfusion.

The seriousness of his condition was underlined by the release on March 6 of an audio recording of the pope in which — speaking in a weak and very breathless voice — he thanked the faithful praying for him.

Francis continued to do bits of work in hospital when possible, but his medical team has made it clear he will not be mingling with crowds or kissing babies soon.

“Further progress will take place at his home, because a hospital — even if this seems strange — is the worst place to recover because it’s where you can contract more infections,” one of his doctors, Sergio Alfieri, told reporters on Saturday.

“During the convalescence period he will not be able to take on his usual daily appointments,” he said.

– Questions over Easter –
Such restrictions are not expected to be easily borne by the Argentine pope, who previously carried out a packed schedule and took evident pleasure interacting with his flock.

Questions also remain over who might lead the busy schedule of religious events leading up to Easter — the holiest period in the Christian calendar.

Asked by reporters on Monday about speculation the pope could resign, Vatican Secretary of State Pietro Parolin replied: “No, no, no. Absolutely not.”

At the most concerning stage of the pope’s hospitalisation, Francis spent several weeks on assisted breathing, with nasal tubes and an oxygen mask.

He twice suffered “very critical” moments during which his life was in danger but he remained conscious, his doctors said.

He was only declared out of danger after a month of treatment in Gemelli Hospital.

The pneumonia he suffered means that Francis will require physiotherapy to recover use of his voice.

“When you suffer bilateral pneumonia, your lungs are damaged and your respiratory muscles are also strained,” Alfieri said.

“It takes time for the voice to get back to normal.”

Headline

US Lifts Restrictions On Visa Validity For Ghanaians, Leaves Nigeria’s Unchanged

Published

2 hours ago

September 27, 2025

Editor

The United States has restored the maximum validity periods for all categories of nonimmigrant visas for Ghanaian nationals following Ghana’s agreement to accept West African deportees, but similar restrictions for Nigerians remain in place.

The B1/B2 visitor visa is now valid for up to five years, with multiple entries allowed, while the F1 student visa’s maximum validity has been restored to four years, with multiple entries permitted.

“The U.S. Embassy is pleased to announce that the maximum validity periods for all categories of nonimmigrant visas for Ghanaians have been restored to their previous lengths. The maximum validity allowed for the B1/B2 visitor visa is again five years, multiple entry. The maximum validity for the F1 student visa is again four years, multiple entry,” the U.S. Embassy announced in a tweet on Saturday.”

Ghana’s Foreign Minister, Samuel Ablakwa, also announced in a tweet that the new policy now allows citizens to apply for five-year multiple-entry visas.

Ablakwa also stated that the reversal of the restriction comes with other enhanced consular privileges, adding that the development was the result of months of diplomatic engagement.

“The U.S. visa restriction imposed on Ghana has been reversed. Ghanaians can now be eligible for five-year multiple-entry visas and other enhanced consular privileges,” Ablakwa stated.

“This good news was directly communicated to me by U.S. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, Allison Hooker, at a bilateral meeting earlier today, in the margins of the UN General Assembly. I am really pleased that months of high-level diplomatic negotiations have led to a successful outcome.”

These changes reverse earlier restrictions imposed under the Trump administration, which had limited most visas to single-entry and a three-month validity period.

The restrictions affected several African countries, including Ghana and Nigeria, and were based on concerns over visa reciprocity and the acceptance of deported migrants.

In July, the U.S. Consulate in Nigeria announced updates to its reciprocal nonimmigrant visa policy, stating: “The United States Department of State has announced updates to its reciprocal non-immigrant visa policy, impacting several countries, including Nigeria. Effective immediately, most non-immigrant and non-diplomatic visas issued to citizens of Nigeria will be single-entry visas with a three-month validity period.

“Those U.S. non-immigrant visas issued prior to July 8, 2025, will retain their status and validity. We wish to underscore that, as is standard globally, visa reciprocity is a continuous process and is subject to review and change at any time, such as increasing or decreasing permitted entries and duration of validity. You can view the latest information on visa reciprocity schedules for all countries at travel.state.gov.”

Reports indicate that the U.S. pressured some African nations to accept deported migrants, including Venezuelan detainees from U.S. prisons.

Nigerian Foreign Minister Yusuf Tuggar rejected these pressures, stating that Nigeria would not serve as a “dumping ground” for deportees.

“It would be difficult for countries like Nigeria to accept Venezuelan prisoners into Nigeria,” Tuggar said during a televised interview.

“We have enough problems of our own; we cannot accept Venezuelan deportees to Nigeria. We already have 230 million people.”

Meanwhile, Ghanaian President John Mahama confirmed that Ghana had begun accepting deported West African nationals after U.S. requests.

“We were approached by the U.S. to accept third-party nationals who were being removed from the U.S., and we agreed with them that West African nationals were acceptable,” Mahama said.

“All our fellow West African nationals don’t need visas to come to our country.”

Headline

UK Nursery Worker Jailed For Abusing 21 Babies

Published

1 day ago

September 26, 2025

Editor

A judge on Friday jailed a nursery worker for eight years for a string of “gratuitous” and “sadistic” attacks on babies.

In one incident, Londoner Roksana Lecka, 22, kicked a little boy in the face several times.

Lecka, who blamed cannabis for her crimes, admitted seven counts of cruelty to a person under the age of 16 and was convicted after a trial of another 14 counts.

Sentencing her for attacks on 21 babies, Judge Sarah Plaschkes said she had committed “multiple acts of gratuitous violence” at two London nurseries where she worked.

“You pinched, slapped, punched, smacked and kicked them. You pulled their ears, hair and their toes. You toppled children headfirst into cots,” she said.

“Often the child would be quietly and happily minding its own business before you deliberately inflicted pain… Your criminal conduct can properly be characterised as sadistic,” she added.

Lecka’s cruelty was revealed in June 2024 after she was seen pinching a number of children.
Police were called in and found multiple incidents recorded on the nursery CCTV.

Victim impact statements submitted to London’s Kingston Crown Court from parents of Lecka’s victims told how they were left heartbroken and guilt-stricken by the attacks.

“These children were so innocent and vulnerable,” one mother told the court.

“They couldn’t speak, they couldn’t defend themselves and they couldn’t tell us as parents that something had happened to them,” she added.

“They were totally helpless and Roksana preyed upon them.”

The hearing was told that she had apologised to the parents in a letter to the court in which she said cannabis had turned her into a different person.

She had been addicted to the drug around the time of the offences, but had not told the nursery.
She was found not guilty of three further counts of child cruelty.

Headline

Italy Fines Six Oil Firms $1bn Fine For Restricting Competition

Published

1 day ago

September 26, 2025

Editor

Italy’s antitrust regulator said Friday it has slapped Italian energy giant Eni and five other companies with fines totalling more than 936 million euros ($1.1 billion) for “restricting competition” in the sale of fuel.

The authority said in a statement that Eni, Esso, Ip, Q8, Saras and Tamoil “coordinated to set the value of the bio component factored into fuel prices”, which tripled between 2019 and 2023.

A probe following a whistleblower’s complaint revealed that “the companies implemented parallel price increases — largely coinciding — which were driven by direct or indirect information exchanges among them”, the authority said.

“The cartel began on 1 January 2020 and continued until 30 June 2023,” it added.

AFP