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

Published

5 months ago

March 23, 2025

Editor

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

Russia Hits Ukraine With 85 Drones, One Missile

Published

12 hours ago

August 16, 2025

Editor

Russia launched 85 attack drones and a ballistic missile at Ukraine overnight, Kyiv said Saturday, hours after Russian leader Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump held their Alaska talks.

The highly anticipated meeting in the remote US state ended with no breakthrough in halting Russia’s more than three-year-long Ukraine invasion.

Ukraine’s air force said Moscow had “attacked with an Iskander-M ballistic missile and 85 Shahed-type” drones, while also attacking “frontline areas” in four regions.

In its daily report, the air force said the attacks took place “on the night of August 16” and started in the evening of August 15 — when Putin and Trump held their negotiations.

Kyiv said its air defences shot down 61 of the drones.

The Trump-Putin summit ended with no ceasefire announcement, despite the West pressing the Kremlin for months to commit to a halt in fighting.

Ukraine’s leader, Volodymyr Zelensky, has not yet publicly reacted to the talks.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, launched by Putin in February 2022, has killed thousands.

AFP

Headline

Trump, Putin Make No Breakthrough On Ukraine Deal, End Summit

Published

12 hours ago

August 16, 2025

Editor

Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin made no breakthrough on Ukraine at their high-stakes summit on Friday, pointing to areas of agreement and rekindling a friendship but offering no news on a ceasefire.

After an abrupt ending to three hours of talks with aides, Trump and Putin offered warm words but took no questions from reporters, highly unusual for the media-savvy US president.

“We’re not there yet, but we’ve made progress. There’s no deal until there’s a deal,” Trump said.

He called the meeting “extremely productive” with “many points” agreed, although he did not offer specifics.

“There are just a very few that are left; some are not that significant, one is probably the most significant,” Trump said without elaborating.

Putin also spoke in general terms of cooperation in a joint press appearance that lasted just 12 minutes.

“We hope that the understanding we have reached will… pave the way for peace in Ukraine,” Putin said.

As Trump mused about a second meeting, Putin smiled and said in English: “Next time in Moscow.”

The former KGB agent quickly tried to flatter Trump, who has voiced admiration for the Russian leader in the past.

Putin told Trump he agreed with him that the Ukraine war, which Putin ordered, would not have happened if Trump were president instead of Joe Biden.

Trump, for his part, again complained of a “hoax” that Russia intervened to help him in the 2016 election, a finding backed by US intelligence.

Before the summit, Trump had warned of “severe consequences” if Russia did not accept a ceasefire.

But when asked about those consequences during a Fox News interview with Sean Hannity after the talks, Trump said that “because of what happened today, I think I don’t have to think about that now.”

The friendly reception contrasted with Trump’s berating of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky when he met him at the White House in February.

Trump earlier said he sought a three-way meeting with Zelensky but did not announce one at the summit.

Trump said he would now consult Zelensky as well as NATO leaders, who have voiced unease about the US leader’s outreach to Putin.

“Now it’s really up to President Zelensky to get it done,” Trump said in the Fox News interview after the summit.

Putin warned Ukraine and European countries to “not create any obstacles” and not “make attempts to disrupt this emerging progress through provocation or behind-the-scenes intrigues.”

Trump invited Putin just a week ago and ensured there was some carefully choreographed drama for their first in-person meeting since 2019.

The two leaders arrived in their respective presidential jets and descended on the tarmac of an air base, with Trump clapping as Putin appeared.

US military might was on display with a B-2 stealth bomber flying overhead, as a reporter shouted audibly to Putin, “Will you stop killing civilians?”

Putin, undaunted, grinned widely as Trump took the unusual step of escorting him into “The Beast,” the secure US presidential limousine, before a meeting in a room before a screen that said, in English only, “Pursuing Peace.”

Putin smiled and joked with Russian reporters on the visit, a landmark for a leader who is facing an arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court related to the Ukraine war, which has killed tens of thousands of people.

Russia, in recent days, has made battlefield gains that could strengthen Putin’s hand in any ceasefire negotiations, although Ukraine announced, as Putin was flying in, that it had retaken several villages.

Trump had insisted he would be firm with Putin, after coming under heated criticism for appearing cowed during a 2018 summit in Helsinki.

While he was travelling to Alaska, the White House announced that Trump had scrapped a plan to see Putin alone, and he instead held the talks alongside Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his roving envoy Steve Witkoff.

Zelensky was not included and has refused pressure from Trump to surrender territory seized by Russia.

“It is time to end the war, and the necessary steps must be taken by Russia. We are counting on America,” Zelensky said in a social media post.

Headline

Russia, Ukraine War: Trump Rules Out Immediate Ceasefire, Pushes For Peace Deal

Published

12 hours ago

August 16, 2025

Editor

US President Donald Trump early Saturday ruled out an immediate ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine after his inconclusive summit with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, saying a direct peace agreement would end the war.

The White House and Kremlin leaders pointed to areas of agreement during their three hours of talks in Alaska, but offered no breakthrough on a ceasefire in the conflict that has left tens of thousands dead and caused widespread destruction in Ukraine.

“A great and very successful day in Alaska!” Trump proclaimed on his Truth Social platform hours after touching down in Washington.

“The meeting with President Vladimir Putin of Russia went very well, as did a late-night phone call with President Zelenskyy of Ukraine, and various European Leaders, including the highly respected Secretary General of NATO.”

He said it was determined by all that the best way to end the “horrific war… is to go directly to a Peace Agreement, which would end the war, and not a mere Ceasefire Agreement, which often do not hold up.”

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said earlier he will go to Washington for a meeting with the US leader on Monday, which Trump confirmed would be held in the Oval Office.

“If all works out, we will then schedule a meeting with President Putin,” Trump added, without specifying whether it would be a three-way meet.

“Potentially, millions of people’s lives will be saved.”

The war went on meanwhile with Ukraine announcing that Russia had launched 85 attack drones and a ballistic missile during the night. Russia said it had taken two more villages in Ukraine.

Zelensky voiced support for Trump’s proposals in an earlier social media post.

“We support President Trump’s proposal for a trilateral meeting between Ukraine, the USA, and Russia. Ukraine emphasises that key issues can be discussed at the level of leaders, and a trilateral format is suitable for this,” he wrote.