Pope Francis joked that he "is still alive" as he left hospital in Rome following a three-day stay for bronchitis.
Francis, 86, was admitted to the Gemelli Polyclinic on Wednesday after reportedly having breathing difficulties following his weekly public audience.
The pontiff was treated with antibiotics administered intravenously, the Vatican said.
Before departing, Francis hugged a couple whose five-year-old daughter had died on Friday night at the hospital.
Serena Subania, mother of Angelica, sobbed as she pressed her head into the chest of the Pope, who put a hand on her head.
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When a boy showed him his arm cast, the pope made a gesture as if to ask "Do you have a pen?" A papal aide handed Francis one, and he autographed the cast.
Pope Francis leaving the Gemelli hospital in Rome today (AFP via Getty Images)Francis sat in the front seat of a white Fiat 500 car that drove him away from Gemelli Polyclinic.
But instead of heading straight home, his motorcade sped right past Vatican City, according to an Associated Press photographer positioned outside the walled city-state.
On the eve of his discharge, Vatican officials said Francis would be St Peter's Square for Palm Sunday Mass to mark the start of Holy Week, which culminates on Easter Sunday, April 9.
Pope Francis consoles a couple who lost their five-year-old daughter last night at the hospital (AP)The pontiff answered in a voice that was close to a whisper when reporters peppered him with questions, indicating he did feel chest pain, a symptom that convinced his medical staff to take him to the hospital.
Vatican officials said Francis would be at St. Peter's Square for Palm Sunday Mass to mark the start of Holy Week, which culminates on Easter, April 9.
It comes after the pope spent 10 days at the same hospital in July 2021 following surgery for an intestinal narrowing, when he had 33 centimetres of his colon removed.
Pope Francis signs a cast on a boy's arm (AFP via Getty Images)Soon after that visit, Francis said he had recovered fully and could eat normally, but in a January 24 interview said the diverticulosis, or bulges in his intestinal wall, had "returned".
However, he also said he was in good shape and that a slight bone fracture in his knee from a fall had healed without surgery and was ready to get on with his agenda.
He said at the time: "I’m in good health. For my age, I’m normal. I might die tomorrow, but it’s under control. I’m in good health."
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Pope Francis greeting children in Rome's Gemelli hospital yesterday (ABACA/REX/Shutterstock)
The pope visited children hospitalised in the pediatric oncology department of the hospital (Vatican Media/Pool/GG/SIPA/REX/Shutterstock)He also indicated he has no plans to resign, although if he were to step down he reiterated that he would want to be called “bishop emeritus of Rome,” rather than “pope emeritus,” the title given his predecessor, Benedict XVI.
In the interview, he said it was premature to “regularise or regulate” papal retirements because the Vatican had too little experience upon which to draw.
Benedict XVI died on new years eve 2022, after nearly a decade of retirement and was the first pope to step down in nearly 600 years.
Pope Francis addresses the media as he leaves the Gemelli hospital (AFP via Getty Images)He said Benedict’s decision to live in a converted monastery in the Vatican Gardens was a “good intermediate solution”, but said future retired popes might want to choose a different course.
He told AP: “He was still ‘enslaved’ as a pope, no? Of the vision of a pope, of a system.
"‘Slave’ in the good sense of the word: in that, he wasn’t completely free, as he would have liked to have returned to his Germany and continued studying theology."
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