Pope Francis will be discharged from hospital on Sunday and will need two months of rest at the Vatican, one of the doctors treating him said on Saturday.
Francis (88) was admitted to the hospital on February 14th with a severe respiratory infection that has required evolving treatment.
The pope has only been seen by the public once during his hospital stay, in a photo the Vatican released last week, showing him at prayer in a hospital chapel.
Earlier, the Vatican said Francis planned to make his first appearance in more than five weeks on Sunday by offering a blessing from the window of his room at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital.
The pope usually offers a weekly noon-time prayer in St Peter’s Square on Sundays. Francis has not been able to do this since February 9th, before going to hospital.
The Vatican said the pope is not expected to deliver the prayer this Sunday.
Francis is prone to lung infections because he had pleurisy as a young adult and had part of one lung removed.
His hospitalisation has been the most serious health crisis of his 12-year papacy and the longest he has been out of public view since his election as pontiff in 2013.
The latest Vatican bulletins about the pope’s medical condition have been cautiously upbeat. On Friday, the Vatican said Francis has been reducing his use of high-flow oxygen to help breathe.
One senior cardinal, however, said on Friday that it could take time for the pope to “relearn to speak” after using oxygen during his hospital stay.
“The pope is doing very well, but high-flow oxygen dries everything out,” said Cardinal Victor Fernandez, the Vatican’s chief doctrine official. “He needs to relearn how to speak, but his overall physical condition is as it was before.”
The Vatican has not given a timeframe for the pope’s discharge from hospital, but plans for a meeting with Britain’s King Charles on April 8th have raised the possibility that Francis could be back at his Vatican residence by then. — Reuters
