ROME - Pope John Paul II left Rome`s Gemelli hospital aboard a grey minibus Sunday to return to the Vatican, ending an 18-day stay during which he underwent throat surgery to ease acute breathing problems.
Looking tired and drawn, but in reasonably good form, the 84-year-old pope blessed and waved to pilgrims and hospital staff from the vehicle`s front passenger seat as it drove along the hospital driveway.
Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said earlier Sunday he would "continue his convalescence" at home.
Hundreds of pilgrims and hospital staff who had lined the cordoned-off avenue at the hospital`s rear entrance clapped and cheered as the papal convoy pulled away, the pope waving through the open passenger window.
Antonella D`Alessandro held up her nine-month-old daughter Laura so she could get her first glimpse of the pope. "I saw him well. He looked good. He`ll get better," she said.
Two Catholics from Birmingham, England, were making their third visit to the Gemelli to see the pope.
"It is his most inspirational period. He`s an example for all of us," said Michael Greaney as his friend Marie McCormack held out a bunch of white and red flowers which she had brought for the pope.
A few hundred pilgrims and tourists were also waiting at the entrance to the Vatican to see the pope at the end of the 15-minute journey across northern Rome.
03/13/2005 17:36 GMT