This was the moment everyone was waiting for.
3,000 people were waiting for Pope Francis on the day of his return home.
Pope Francis appeared weak but was not short of jokes.
POPE FRANCIS
Thank you all. And I see this lady with the yellow flowers. She's good.
He didn't have the strength for anything else. But despite his condition, he did not want to return home without first stopping in front of the Basilica of Saint Mary Major, home to the Patron Saint of Rome, to whom the Pope is devoted. He did not get out of the car, but left some flowers for the Head of the Basilica of Saint Mary Major.
Then he returned to the Vatican through the entrance closest to Casa Santa Marta. In Rome, the feeling was one of celebration.
Exciting. Exciting. Very beautiful because he's everyone's pope, he's a good pope. He's our dad.
We came all the way from Brazil just to see the Pope, and after we book the trip and then he got sick, so we took all the way to come here to see him, so it's a lot of emotion for us. So very, very, very good moment.
From now on, the Pope, according to doctors, must avoid any major exertion for the next two months. Doctors have asked him to avoid gatherings with groups of faithful, as he has done up until now, to avoid contagion now that his body is weak.
This brought to an end a nearly 40-day hospital stay that had left the Pope in fear for his life.
JRB
TR: GS
