Pope Francis will be discharged from hospital on Sunday, one of the doctors treating him has confirmed.
He will need two months of rest at the Vatican and full recovery will take “a lot of time” as he is not fully healed, they added on Saturday.
“The recommendation for a period of convalescence of at least two months is very important,” Sergio Alfieri, head of the pope’s medical team, told the press conference.
He is also advised against having meetings with large groups of people.
The 88-year-old pontiff was admitted to the hospital on 14 February with a severe respiratory infection that has required evolving treatment.
The Vatican said earlier on Saturday that Pope Francis also planned to make his first appearance in more than five weeks on Sunday, offering a blessing from the window of his room at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital where he has been battling double pneumonia.
The pope has been seen by the public only once during his hospital stay, in a photo the Vatican released last week, showing the pontiff at prayer in a hospital chapel.
Pope Francis wants to come to the hospital window around noon on Sunday to give a greeting and blessing, the Vatican said in its brief statement on Saturday.
The pope usually offers a weekly noon-time prayer in St Peter’s Square on Sundays, but he has not been able to do this since 9 February, before going to hospital.
Doctors first diagnosed a complex bacterial, viral and fungal respiratory tract infection and soon thereafter, pneumonia in both lungs.
Blood tests showed signs of anaemia, low blood platelets and the onset of kidney failure, all of which later resolved after two blood transfusions.
The most serious setbacks began on 28 February, when the pope experienced an acute coughing fit and required a ventilation mask to help him breathe.
He suffered two more respiratory crises in the following days, at which point he began sleeping with the ventilation mask at night to help clear his lungs.
At no point did he lose consciousness, and doctors reported he was alert and cooperative.
Over the past two weeks, he has stabilised and registered slight improvements, the Vatican press office said. He no longer needs to wear the ventilation mask at night and is cutting back his reliance on supplemental oxygen during the day.
