Pope Francis will return to the Vatican on 23 March, Vatican News reported on Saturday, citing the staff of the Agostino Gemelli Hospital, where he was treated.
Doctors stated that the pope’s condition has remained stable over the past two weeks.
“On Sunday, 23 March 2025, Pope Francis, who was hospitalised on 14 February at Rome’s Agostino Gemelli Hospital, operating at the Faculty of Medicine of the Italian Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, will return to his residence in” the House of St. Martha” in the Vatican,” the agency said with reference to the director of the medical and surgical department of the hospital and head of the medical team of the medical institution Sergio Alfieri.
At the same time, Francis will not yet be able to return to full activity – doctors have scheduled him for “at least two months of rehabilitation.”
“During the hospitalisation there were two critical episodes when the patient was in danger of death. During this period, invasive ventilation was never used, the Pope remained conscious and orientated at all times,” the agency states.
According to doctors, the Pope will need time to recover his voice after oxygen therapy, but compared to the situation 10 days ago, “significant improvements can be traced.”
In early March, it became known that Pope Francis, who was hospitalised in mid-February, had two episodes of acute respiratory failure and was again hooked up to a ventilator.
The pope was hospitalised on 14 February with bronchitis, but his condition subsequently worsened and he was diagnosed with bilateral pneumonia. On 1 March, Francis needed to be put on a ventilator after an attack of bronchospasm, but his condition improved a day later.