Gemelli Hospital medical director Dr. Sergio Alfieri announced Saturday that Pope Francis is expected to be discharged on Sunday. 

The Vatican also announced that the pontiff would appear publicly on Sunday morning to bless the faithful from his 10th floor suite at the hospital. He will then return to the Vatican. 

At a press conference, Alfieri said the Holy Father experienced «two very critical episodes» during his hospitalization when his life was in danger but has since shown a «slow but progressive» improvement due to «pharmacological therapy, the administration of high flow oxygen and assisted mechanical ventilation.» The pope, however, was never intubated and never lost consciousness, Alfieri said. 

Alfieri said Saturday that Francis will require at least two months of rest and rehabilitation as he continues recovering back at the Vatican. He said doctors advise the pontiff not to meet large groups or activities in public during that recovery time.

Alfieri was joined by the head physician of the Vatican’s Health and Hygiene Office, Luigi Carbone, and the pope’s spokesperson, Matteo Bruni, in the entry hall of Rome’s Agostino Gemelli Polyclinic, where Pope Francis has been treated since Feb. 14 after a bout of bronchitis worsened. The pope was hospitalized for 38 days while battling a life-threatening case of pneumonia in both lungs, his doctors said. 

KING CHARLES III TO MEET POPE FRANCIS DURING VISIT TO VATICAN NEXT MONTH

Pope Francis waves from his popemobile after the weekly Angelus prayers at Saint Peter’s Square in the Vatican on Oct. 20, 2024. (Filippo Monteforte/AFP/Getty)

The pope experienced «acute respiratory failure due to a polymicrobial infection,» Alfieri said. 

The Saturday evening briefing was the first in-person update on the pontiff’s condition since Feb. 21, a week after the 88-year-old Francis was brought to Gemelli hospital. He subsequently experienced several respiratory crises that landed him in critical condition, though he has since stabilized. Due to the double pneumonia, Alfieri told reporters that the pope’s voice has been damaged but that it will improve with time. 

The doctor added that recovery would best continue away from the hospital, where exposure to viruses risks weakening the Holy Father’s condition. Alfieri said the pope did not have COVID-19, but he had been exposed to various viruses.

From left, head physician of the Vatican’s Health and Hygiene Office, Luigi Carbone, the pope’s spokesperson, Matteo Bruni, and Surgeon Sergio Alfieri, Saturday, March 22, 2025, in the entrance hall of Rome’s Agostino Gemelli Polyclinic.  (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

While Francis released an audio message on March 6 and the Vatican distributed a photo of him March 16, Sunday’s blessing will be the first live appearance since Francis was admitted on Feb. 14 for what has become the longest hospitalization of his 12-year papacy. The Argentine pope, who has chronic lung disease, is prone to respiratory problems in winter and had part of one lung removed as a young man. 

When the pope was admitted, doctors first diagnosed a complex bacterial, viral and fungal respiratory tract infection and soon thereafter, pneumonia in both lungs. 

Blood tests showed signs of anemia, low blood platelets and the onset of kidney failure, all of which were later resolved after two blood transfusions, according to officials.

Surgeon Sergio Alfieri speaks to journalists, Saturday, March 22, 2025, in the entrance hall of Rome’s Agostino Gemelli Polyclinic about Pope Francis.  (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

The most serious setbacks began on Feb. 28, when Francis experienced an acute coughing fit and inhaled vomit, requiring him to use a noninvasive mechanical ventilation mask to help him breathe. He suffered two more respiratory crises in the following days, which required doctors to manually aspirate the mucus, at which point he began sleeping with the ventilation mask at night to help his lungs clear the accumulation of fluids.

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Over the past two weeks, the Vatican press office reported that the pope has stabilized, no longer needs to wear the ventilation mask at night, and is cutting back his reliance on high flows of supplemental oxygen during the day.

Alfieri said the pope does not have double pneumonia anymore but still has some infections and must continue to heal.

Fox News’ Courteney Walsh and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

El papa Francisco recibirá este domingo el alta médica, tras 37 días ingresado en el hospital Gemelli de Roma por una infección respiratoria, anunciaron este sábado fuentes médicas que lo atienden.

«La buena noticia que todo el mundo espera: mañana el Santo Padre recibirá el alta y regresará a Santa Marta», anunció Sergio Alfieri, responsable del equipo médico que trata al Papa.

Francisco se encuentra en esa clínica desde el 14 de febrero. Le darán el alta después de pasar dos semanas en condición estable. Está previsto que deba cumplir al menos dos meses de reposo y que no pueda recibir visitas en lo inmediato.

Más temprano se había anunciado que el Papa se mostraría por primera vez en público este domingo, desde una ventana del centro médico, para saludar a feligreses y ofrecerles una bendición.

El jefe médico papal dio detalles del cuadro del sumo pontífice. Explicó que la infección respiratoria que sufrió no está vinculada con el Covid. También descartó que el sumo pontífice tenga diabetes, indicó La Repubblica.

Además, se refirió a la revelación de la mano derecha del Papa, que dijo que el Santo Padre deberá «aprender a hablar de nuevo». «Esperamos que la recuperación del habla sea en poco tiempo», señaló Alfieri. El 6 de marzo, Francisco envió un mensaje de audio que fue reproducido en una misa en el Vaticano. «Agradezco de corazón las oraciones», se le escuchó decir, en español y con la voz fatigada.

El domingo pasado, 16 de marzo, se difundió la primera fotografía del Papa. Se lo ve de espaldas, vistiendo sus atuendos de misa, sentado en una silla de ruedas y frente al altar de la capilla. Desde ese mismo día comenzó a ver reducida la asistencia respiratoria mecánica y a dejar gradualmente el uso de máscara de oxígeno durante las noches.

Un día más tarde, el lunes 17, el Palacio de Buckingham (la residencia de la Corona británica) confirmó que aún sigue en pie la visita de Estado del rey Carlos III al Vaticano el próximo 8 de abril. Por lo pronto, el Vaticano no hizo anuncios al respecto.

El viernes fue el cardenal Víctor Emanuel Fernández, exarzobispo de La Plata, quien había sostenido desde Roma que si bien el Papa continuaba mejorando de su cuadro de salud, deberá aprender a hablar nuevamente, debido al uso prolongado e intenso de asistencia respiratoria durante su internación.

«Para él comienza una nueva etapa pero sabemos que es un hombre de sorpresas. Después de este tiempo difícil, se verá cuánto Francisco será fecundo para la Iglesia y para el mundo», declaró el cardenal Fernández.

Efectivamente el domingo comenzará una nueva etapa para el Santo Padre, que no sólo transitó una infección respiratoria que le ocasionó varias crisis, sino que también a finales de febrero se le detectó una insuficiencia renal leve que también requirió atención médica puntillosa. Sin embargo, el Papa logró sobreponerse a ella a los pocos días.

As top U.S. officials prepare for a meeting with a Russian delegation in Saudia Arabia Sunday, questions have mounted over how the Trump administration will push Moscow to extend a preliminary ceasefire. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin this week agreed to temporarily halt strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, which includes Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station. 

Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, who will both travel to Jeddah for the negotiations, said the next step will be to secure a ceasefire over the Black Sea.

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Moscow had previously agreed to a similar deal brokered by Turkey and the United Nations in 2022, known as the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which attempted to secure Ukrainian exports of agricultural products to control global prices, but Putin pulled out of the agreement in 2023. 

Security experts remain unconvinced that Putin can be trusted this time around.

But there is another issue that apparently will be on the negotiating table in the Middle East — Ukraine’s nuclear power. 

As the president’s focus on a mineral deal with Ukraine appears to have diminished, he has turned his interest to a new business venture, U.S. «ownership» of Kyiv’s «electrical supply and nuclear power plants.»

«American ownership of those plants would be the best protection for that infrastructure and support for Ukrainian energy infrastructure,» a joint statement released by Rubio and Waltz said after Trump’s phone call Wednesday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

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When asked by Fox News Digital how Putin, who has made his interest in the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant clear, will respond to Trump’s new ambitions, Rebekah Koffler, a former DIA intelligence officer and author of «Putin’s Playbook,» said she does not think it will go over well. 

«Putin almost certainly is not in favor of this idea and will attempt to sabotage such a deal,» said Koffler, who briefed NATO officials of Putin’s ambitions in Ukraine years before the 2022 invasion. «Moreover, Zelenskyy is unlikely to sign off on such a deal also.

«Zelenskyy would likely agree to cede control of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant to the U.S., which is currently under Russian control. The Russians will not voluntarily give up control of Zaporizhzhia. If someone tries to take it over by force, they will fight to the bitter end.»

An infographic created in Ankara, Turkey, Aug. 12, 2024.  (Yasin Demirci/Anadolu via Getty Images)

It is unclear when Trump’s interest in acquiring Ukraine’s energy infrastructure began, though it appears to tie into his previous assertions that Ukraine will be better protected if it has American workers and businesses operating within its borders. 

The basis of this argument has been debated because there were, and remain, American companies operating in Ukraine during Russia’s invasion. The debate contributed to an Oval Office blowup between Trump and Zelenskyy last month. 

Koffler said Putin could view a U.S. takeover of Kyiv’s four nuclear power plants as a «backdoor way» for the U.S. to extend some security guarantees for Ukraine and a «clever way of controlling Ukraine’s nuclear capability, which the Russians believe can be militarized.»

WHAT’S NEXT IN THE RUSSIA, UKRAINE CEASEFIRE TALKS?

«It would be viewed as a threat to Russia,» Koffler said.

When asked how U.S. ownership of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure could affect negotiations, former CIA Moscow station chief Dan Hoffman told Fox News Digital he is not convinced it will have much of an effect on actually securing peace. 

«Show me the deal. We don’t have a deal yet. We have a ceasefire that’s been broken on energy infrastructure,» Hoffman pointed out. He noted that even after Putin agreed to stop attacking Ukraine’s infrastructure on Tuesday, the following morning a drone strike hit a railway power system in the Dnipropetrovsk region, which led to civilian power outages. 

President Donald Trump meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the first day of the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan, June 28, 2019. (Kremlin Press Office/Handout/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

«It’s just another discussion point. There are so many other issues that are of far greater importance. What Putin would probably do for his negotiating strategy is to say, ‘Oh, yeah, I’ll let you do that United States of America, but I want this in return’. It’s always going to be that way,» Hoffman added, reflecting on his own negotiations with Russian counterparts during his time with the CIA.

«He wants Ukraine. He wants to topple the government. That’s his objective,» Hoffman added. «Whatever deals he agrees to in the short term, what he really wants to do is destroy Ukraine’s ability to deter Russia in the future and to give Russia maximum advantage. 

«Right now, he can gain through negotiation what he can’t gain on the battlefield.» 

While a number of issues will be discussed, the former CIA Moscow station chief said the real key in accomplishing any kind of ceasefire will need to be an authentic signal from Putin that he actually wants the war to end.

«The big question that John Ratcliffe has to answer is explain to me why Putin wants a ceasefire. I would argue he doesn’t,» Hoffman said in reference to the director of the CIA. «There is zero indication that he wants one.

Ukrainian servicemen fire with a French self-propelled 155 mm/52-caliber gun Caesar toward Russian positions at a front line in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donbas June 15, 2022. (Aris Messinis/AFP via Getty Images)

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«If he wanted to stop the war and stop the killing of his own people and stop spilling so much blood and treasure, he would have stopped it,» Hoffman argued.

Ultimately, Hoffman said, when looking at how most major wars have concluded, history suggests the war in Ukraine can only truly end on the battlefield.

«One side loses, one side wins, or both sides don’t have the means to fight anymore,» Hoffman said. «That’s how the wars end.»