Pope Francis has left the hospital in Rome where he has been treated for bronchial catarrh. On his way from the hospital, he smiled and joked with journalists and others gathered outside. – I’m still alive, he said. The 86-year-old pontiff then headed to the Vatican where he will attend Mass in St. Peter’s Square on Palm Sunday, a holiday that marks the beginning of the tradition-laden Easter week. The Pope was admitted to the Gemelli Hospital in Rome on Wednesday after a few days of breathing difficulties. The Pope fell ill four days before Palm Sunday, when the tradition-laden Easter celebration in the Vatican begins and tens of thousands of Catholics gather. As a 21-year-old, Pope Francis underwent an operation in 1957 that involved the removal of part of one of his lungs. The Argentine Pope also suffers from chronic knee pain. Watch the Pope leave the hospital in the player above.
t4-general
Here the Pope leaves the hospital – with a joke: “I’m still alive!”
