The 88-year-old pontiff has been hospitalized for six weeks with pneumonia in both lungs. He will need to rest in the Vatican for at least two months, his doctors said.

Before leaving the hospital, the Pope gave a thumbs-up to the crowd after he was wheeled out onto the balcony.

Pope Francis has been in hospital for more than a week with what some media reports are now calling “double pneumonia”. The Vatican released a statement on Tuesday evening saying laboratory tests, chest X-rays,