00:00So, Pope Francis has finally left the Gemelli Hospital after 38 days, a long time.
00:09This is the first time that people have seen him since he entered the hospital on February
00:1514th.
00:16Now, the papacy is definitely entering a new phase, perhaps a final phase, regardless of
00:23how much longer he lives.
00:26He had double pneumonia, he's missing one lung, he's 88 years old.
00:34It seems to be almost impossible that the papacy will return to the way it was before
00:41he entered the hospital.
00:42He is not totally healed.
00:45He still has to convalesce for about two months, which is quite a long time, and he also has
00:52to continue taking medicines and also continue oxygen therapy.
00:57So all those things put together show that we are definitely at the end of a phase of
01:04a papacy, most probably the final phase, even if he lives for some time.
01:10It's very doubtful that he will be able to carry out his duties like before.
01:15There's been a lot of speculation about whether Pope Francis will resign after this health
01:21crisis.
01:22It's difficult to say.
01:24On the one hand, he has said that it should not become a fashion, is the word he used,
01:31for popes to resign instead of rule for life, as Pope Benedict did in 2013.
01:40That said, it depends on how he thinks that he will be able to run the church after this
01:47illness.
01:48He has to remember that we're in the midst of a holy year, which he opened, and will
01:53end at the end of this year.
01:56So I think that even if he has some thoughts of resigning, he probably would want to live
02:02out this year or continue running the church this year, because millions of pilgrims have
02:09already started arriving in Rome, and millions more are expected.
02:14And one of the main reasons they come, apart from passing through the holy door, is to
02:20see the pope.
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