A chipper-sounding Pope Francis was discharged yesterday from the hospital in Rome where he was treated for bronchitis, quipping to journalists before being driven away that he’s “still alive”.

Francis (86) was hospitalised at Gemelli Polyclinic on Wednesday, following his weekly public audience in St Peter’s Square after reportedly experiencing breathing difficulties. The pontiff received antibiotics administered intravenously during his stay, the Vatican said.

As a young man in his native Argentina, Francis had part of a lung removed, leaving him particularly vulnerable to any respiratory illness.

‘Happy Easter to all, and pray for me’

In a sign of his improved health, the Vatican released details of Francis’ Holy Week schedule. It said he would preside at this weekend’s Palm Sunday Mass and at Easter Mass on April 9, both held in St Peter’s Square and expected to draw tens of thousands of the faithful.

A Vatican cardinal will be at the altar beside him, a recent practice due to the pontiff having a troublesome knee issue.

But Francis is scheduled to celebrate mass on Holy Thursday, which this year he will celebrate from a juvenile prison in Rome. Still unclear was whether he would attend the late-night, torch-lit Way of the Cross procession at Rome’s Colosseum to mark Good Friday.

Pope Francis consoles a couple who lost their five-year-old daughter Angelica in the same hospital he was treated in

Before departing the hospital yesterday morning, Francis offered his comfort to a couple from Rome whose five-year-old daughter Angelica died in the hospital on Friday night.

The distraught mother sobbed as she pressed her head into the chest of the pope, who held her close and whispered words of comfort.

Francis seemed eager to linger with well-wishers. When a boy showed him his arm cast, the pope made a gesture as if to ask ‘Do you have a pen?’ Three papal aides whipped out theirs. Francis took one pen and added his signature to the child’s already well-autographed cast.

Francis got out of his car to distribute Easter eggs to Roman police officers

The pope answered in a low voice that was close to a whisper when reporters peppered him with questions, indicating he had felt unwell.

“I felt sick,” he said, pointing to his mid-section. Asked how he felt now, Francis joked: “Still alive, you know” and gave a thumbs-up sign.

Francis exited the hospital from a side entrance, but his white Fiat 500 stopped in front of the main entrance, where a gaggle of journalists waited. He opened the car door himself and got out from the front passenger seat. Francis had a cane ready to lean on.

But instead of heading straight home, his motorcade sped past Vatican City and went to St Mary Major Basilica, a Rome landmark that is one of his favourites.

There, startled tourists rushed to snap photos of him as he sat in a wheelchair, which he has used often in recent years. When he emerged after praying, residents and tourists called out repeatedly, “Long live the pope!” and clapped.

Given his strained voice, it was unclear if he will deliver the usually lengthy Urbi et Orbi address at the end of mass on Easter Sunday.

Francis stopped to talk to reporters again before he was driven into the Vatican through a gate of the tiny walled city-state, where he lives at a small hotel. Speaking through an open car window, he said: “Happy Easter to all, and pray for me.’’

On yet another stop, he got out of his car to distribute chocolate Easter eggs to the police officers who drove the motorcycles at the head of his motorcade.

He told reporters that after Palm Sunday Mass, he would keep his weekly appointment to greet and bless the public in St. Peter’s Square.

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