The Holy Father appeared briefly behind a glass balcony on the fifth floor at Gemelli University Hospital in Rome where he greeted and blessed a waiting crowd.
He looked sickly as he sat in a wheelchair but he made the appearance without the assistance of oxygen.
Francis blessed the crowd, thanked them for coming to speak to him, and pointed out a woman who had brought yellow flowers to wish him well.
Speaking briefly and weakly, he said: “Thank you, everyone… I see this woman with the yellow flowers. Brava!”
He gave a weak sign of the cross before being wheeled back inside.
Chants of “Viva il papa!” and “Papa Francesco” erupted from the crowd, which included patients who had been wheeled outside just to catch his brief appearance.
The head of the Catholic Church had been staying on the 10th floor in the papal suite, but appeared on the fifth which was reportedly more suitable for a wheelchair.
Soon after his appearance he left the hospital in the front seat of a white Fiat as he was driven through Rome back to the Vatican.
Photos of the Pope inside the car showed that he was being supported with oxygen.
Source: thesun.co.uk
