Behind the scenes of the Pope’s release from hospital: a timeline

On Saturday, March 22, mid-morning, the Holy See announced that the Pope would appear at noon on Sunday to give a blessing. This promises to be an event in itself, as the Pontiff has not appeared in public since February 14.

In the late afternoon that same day, shortly after 4 p.m., the Vatican press office announced a press conference for 6 p.m. at Gemelli, to be presented by the medical team in charge of the Pope's care. A press conference, which surprised Vatican experts, promised to be a contrast to the relatively small amount of information that had been given in recent days, since the Pope's condition had stabilized and there weren't changes to report.

On Wednesday, the Press Office bulletin had stated that the Pope's return to the Vatican was not “imminent” and that an official statement was not expected before the following Monday.

This seemed to be confirmed by the very succinct and cautious statements made by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Secretary of State. On Friday, he suggested journalists not make any predictions.

In a radically different style that same day, Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, said he doubted the Pontiff would be able to participate in upcoming events, particularly those of Holy Week. And he revealed that the Pope had lost much of his voice and would have to "learn to speak" again.

During the impromptu press conference on Saturday, the doctors revealed that Pope Francis had been expressing the wish to leave the hospital “for three or four days” – that is, since Tuesday or Wednesday.

Plans for his discharge on Sunday, announced by Dr. Sergio Alfieri at the start of the conference, took journalists by surprise, especially since no rumors to that effect had appeared in the Italian press, which is often accustomed to short-circuiting official Vatican communications.

The Pope's doctors then confirmed that Francis had recovered from his bilateral pneumonia but that he would still need two months of convalescence at the Vatican to completely cure the respiratory infection that is still present. With a serious look on his face, Dr. Alfieri acknowledged that the Pope had come close to death during two crises.

On Sunday, hundreds of faithful came to witness the first appearance of Pope Francis and gathered on the esplanade of the Roman hospital.

“It is important to come and support him, he has been through very difficult times,” says Alejandra, a Colombian living in Rome.

From a balcony on the fifth floor of the hospital, relatively close to the crowd, the Pontiff finally appeared in a wheelchair.

His face drawn, visibly still marked by illness, he only said a few words, thanking the crowd and in particular a woman who held a bouquet of yellow flowers.

(As on previous Sundays, the text of his meditation for the Angelus had been released by the Holy See.) After just over a minute, the Pope blessed the crowd with difficulty, seeming to struggle to raise his hand, and signaled to his aides to take him back inside the hospital.

A few minutes later, Francis got into a white Fiat 500. The motorcade stopped at Saint Mary Major but the Pope did not enter the church to pray before the Salus populi romani icon, as he has already done more than 120 times since the beginning of his pontificate.

Having received the bouquet of yellow flowers that the lady at the Gemelli had held up to him, he gave it to Cardinal Rolandas Makrickas, archpriest of the basilica, charging him with placing it before the venerated icon.

The Pontiff returned to the Vatican, escorted to the Leonine walls under the watchful eye of the television cameras.

On Friday, Cardinal Fernández had predicted that a “new stage” of the pontificate would begin when the Pope left the hospital.

“He is a man of surprises, who will certainly have learned many things during this month,” he said, considering that the ordeal of this lengthy hospitalization would actually prove to be “a fruitful moment for the world, for the Church.”

Look back on the reports during his stay at the hospital here.