Pope Francis left the Gemelli Hospital in Rome today after a nine-day stay following the abdominal surgery he underwent June 7. He smiled at the journalists gathered outside the hospital as he left, saying he was “still alive.” In a brief exchange, he also manifested his grief for the migrants who died in a shipwreck off the coast of Greece. 

Before returning to his residence in the Domus Sanctae Marthae in the Vatican, the Pope stopped to pray in the Basilica of Saint Mary Major, located in the center of Rome and a place he always visits whenever he returns from a trip abroad.

The Vatican confirmed the 86-year-old pontiff will recite the Angelus on Sunday, and will reassume his agenda next week, where he has meetings scheduled with the presidents of Cuba and Brazil, Miguel Díaz Canel and Lula da Silva. 

On Thursday, the Vatican released the first pictures of Pope Francis after his abdominal surgery, indicating that the pontiff was continuing his recovery ahead of an expected discharge in the coming days.

The pictures showed Francis in a wheelchair, visiting the cancer ward for children at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital, which is next to the room where he has been convalescing for more than a week.

According to Sergio Alfieri, the surgeon who operated on the Pope, he is “better now” than he was before the procedure. 

The pope traditionally takes all of July off, with the Sunday blessings being his only public appearance, so he will have the entire month to rest before he is due to make a trip to Portugal from Aug. 2 to Aug. 6 for World Youth Day and to visit the Shrine of Fatima.

He also is still scheduled to visit Mongolia from Aug. 31 to Sept. 4. Doctors had said after the operation that the pope should have no limitations on travels and other activities after recovery.

Francis underwent a three-hour operation to repair an abdominal hernia June 7. A mesh prosthetic was inserted into the abdominal wall to help it heal and doctors wanted it to settle and attach properly to avoid another operation if it broke. 

The surgery was the third hospital stay for Francis since cardinals chose the Argentine as the first Latin American pope in 2013 and is the latest in a string of health problems in recent years.

-with information from Reuters and Télam