Rome, Italy
CNN
—
Pope Francis was discharged from Rome’s Gemelli hospital Friday where the 86-year-old was recovering from abdominal surgery.
Hospital staff had gathered by the hospital entrance to say goodbye and people lined the walkway outside the facility in a bid to see the pope, as seen by a CNN team outside the hospital entrance.
Pope Francis had remained in Rome’s Gemelli hospital after undergoing abdominal surgery last Wednesday. He had resumed his work from the hospital and will be taken back to the Vatican following his release.
On Thursday, the director of the Vatican Press Office Matteo Bruni said medical staff reported that the Pontiff had “rested well during the night. The clinical course continues regularly. Hematochemical examinations are in the normal range.”
Earlier that day, “as a token of thanks, he received the entire operating team formed by the medical staff, nurses, social and health workers and auxiliaries who coordinated, performed and made the surgery possible last June 7,” Bruni added.
The Pontiff also visited children in the Pediatric Oncology and Children’s Neurosurgery ward “who in recent days have expressed their affection to the Pope through numerous letters, drawings and messages of speedy recovery are cared for,” Bruni said.
“In greeting those present, His Holiness extended his thanks to all the health care staff for their professionalism and efforts to alleviate each other’s suffering with tenderness and humanity in addition to medication,” he said.
An earlier version of this article misstated the time of the Pope’s release