Pope Francis called Sunday for an “immediate” end to Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip, and for the resumption of dialogue for the release of hostages and a “definitive ceasefire.”
“I am saddened by the resumption of the intense Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip, with so many deaths and injuries”, Francis wrote in his Angelus prayer, which was published on Sunday as the 88-year-old was being discharged from more than five weeks in hospital.
“I ask that the weapons be silenced immediately and that the courage be found to resume dialogue so that all the hostages can be freed and a definitive ceasefire reached”, said Francis, who was set to return to the Vatican on Sunday.
“The humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip is once again very serious and requires the urgent commitment of the conflicting parties and the international community,” he said.
Tired-looking Pope leaves hospital, thanks faithful
Pope Francis was discharged from hospital Sunday after more than five weeks being treated for pneumonia, waving to crowds gathered and thanking everyone for their support before heading for home. Looking tired and worn, the pontiff sat in a wheelchair on one of the hospital balconies, waving softly to hundreds of people who had gathered below to wish the head of the Catholic Church well.
It was the first public sighting of the Argentine Pope since Feb.14, when he was admitted to Rome’s Gemelli hospital with breathing difficulties and a respiratory illness which developed into pneumonia.
“Thank you, everyone,” a weak-sounding Francis said into a microphone, as he waved his hands from his lap, occasionally lifting one to wave in the air and doing an occasional thumbs-up sign.
“I can see that woman with yellow flowers, well done,” he said with a small smile, to laughter from the crowd. Francis was on the balcony for two minutes before being discharged from the hospital immediately afterwards.
He left by car, waving from the closed window of the front seat as he drove past journalists, and could be seen wearing a cannula — a plastic tube tucked into his nostrils which delivers oxygen.
The Pope was driven past the Vatican and on to Santa Maria Maggiore, the Rome church which is his favourite and where he stops to pray before and after trips.
He was then seen arriving back at the Vatican. Doctors have said that his health has improved sufficiently for him to go home, but that Francis, who had part of one lung removed as a young man and lost weight in hospital, still faces a long recovery of at least two months.
The increasingly fragile state of Francis’s health has spurred speculation as to whether he could opt to step down and make way for a successor, as his predecessor Benedict XVI had done.
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