Pope Francis has needed to go to hospital for checks in Rome, two months after he was hospitalised with an acute case of bronchitis. The Vatican spokesman, Matteo Bruni, mentioned the pontiff underwent "some clinical examinations and returned to the Vatican before noon” from the Gemelli hospital.

Witnesses at the Vatican's Perugino gate, one of the main entrances to the city state, said that Francis greeted guards as he usually does before returning to his residence.

He marked the 10th anniversary of his pontificate back in March and recently made headlines for denouncing anti-gay laws.

While travelling back to Rome from Juba, South Sudan’s capital, in February he described the criminalisation of homosexuality as an “injustice”.

Metro reports the Catholic leader said people with ‘homosexual tendencies’ are children of God and should be welcomed by the church.

Francis spent three days at the Gemelli hospital in late March.

Initially, the Vatican said he had gone in for scheduled tests, but the pontiff later revealed he had felt pain in his chest and was rushed to the hospital where bronchitis was diagnosed.

He was put on intravenous antibiotics and was released April 1, quipping that he was “still alive”.

The Argentine pope had part of one lung removed when he was a young man.

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He additionally suffers from sciatica nerve ache and has been utilizing a wheelchair and walker for greater than a 12 months due to strained ligaments in his knee.

Francis has had a packed schedule not too long ago, with a number of audiences every day.

And there is no such thing as a signal of this easing off because the Vatican has not too long ago confirmed a travel-filled August, when Italy is normally on vacation.

During the primary week of August he's going to Portugal for 4 days after which he's going to Mongolia for the same size of time, from August 31.

In an indication that the journeys have been very a lot on, at present the Vatican launched the deliberate itinerary for Francis' go to to Portugal for World Youth Day occasions from August 2 to six.

The itinerary confirms a sometimes busy schedule that features all of the protocol conferences of an official state go to plus a number of occasions with younger folks and a day journey to the Marian shrine at Fatima.

Francis' subsequent public appointment, if confirmed, can be his weekly common viewers tomorrow in St. Peter's Square.