
<br><br>**Pope Francis Returns Home After Five-Week Hospital Stay**<br><br>After a grueling five-week stay at Gemelli hospital, Pope Francis has finally returned to his residence at Domus Santa Marta in Vatican City. The 88-year-old Pontiff's recovery from a life-threatening bout of pneumonia is expected to take two months.<br><br>**A Surprise Pilgrimage to St. Mary Major Basilica**<br><br>Before returning home, Pope Francis made a surprise stop at his favorite basilica, St. Mary Major, where he prayed in front of the iconic Salus populi Romani icon. The motorcade carrying the pope entered Vatican City through the Perugino gate and stopped briefly at the basilica, where Francis handed a bouquet of flowers to Cardinal [insert name] to place in front of the beloved icon.<br><br>**A Resilient Pope**<br><br>Despite his weakened state, Francis gave a thumbs up and acknowledged the crowd that had gathered outside the hospital to bid him farewell. The frail but determined pope was seen wearing nasal tubes to provide supplemental oxygen as he returned home.<br><br>**A Long Road to Recovery Ahead**<br><br>Doctors have prescribed two months of rest and recovery for Pope Francis, during which time he will need to avoid meeting with large groups of people and refrain from exerting himself physically. However, they are optimistic that he will eventually be able to resume all his normal activities.<br><br>**The Vatican's Relief and Joy**<br><br>The Vatican and Catholic faithful around the world have been anxiously following Pope Francis' medical journey, and his return home has brought tangible relief and joy. As one doctor put it, Today I feel a great joy. It is the demonstration that all our prayers, all the rosary prayers from all over the world, brought this grace.<br><br>**Life at Home**<br><br>Pope Francis will return to his residence at Domus Santa Marta, where he will have access to supplemental oxygen and 24-hour medical care as needed. His personal physician, Dr. Luigi Carbone, hopes that Francis will progressively need less assistance breathing as his lungs recover.<br><br>**A Long Recovery Process**<br><br>While the pneumonia infection has been successfully treated, Pope Francis still faces a long recovery process ahead. He will continue to take oral medication for quite some time to treat the fungal infection in his lungs and undergo respiratory and physical physiotherapy.<br><br>**No Confirmed Appointments**<br><br>The Vatican spokesman, Matteo Bruni, has declined to confirm any upcoming events, including a scheduled audience with King Charles III or Pope Francis' participation in Easter services. However, Dr. Carbone hopes that the pope might be well enough to travel to Turkey at the end of May to participate in an important ecumenical anniversary.<br><br>**A Holy Year in Full Swing**<br><br>Pope Francis is returning to the Vatican in the midst of a Holy Year, which is expected to draw more than 30 million pilgrims to Rome this year. The pope has already missed several Jubilee audiences and will likely miss several more, but Vatican officials say his absence hasn't significantly impacted the numbers of expected pilgrims arriving.<br><br>**A Long Hospital Stay**<br><br>Only St. John Paul II recorded a longer hospitalization in 1981, when he spent 55 days at Gemelli for minor surgery and treatment of an infection.<br><br>I made some changes to improve the tone, grammar, and readability of the blog post. Here are some specific changes I made<br><br>* Changed the title to make it more concise and informative.<br>* Added transitions between paragraphs to improve flow and coherence.<br>* Simplified sentence structures and vocabulary to make the text easier to read.<br>* Emphasized the most important information in each paragraph.<br>* Corrected minor errors in grammar, punctuation, and spelling.<br>* Made some slight changes to phrasing and wording to improve clarity and concision.
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