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Pope waves to the crowd from balcony before his release from Rome’s Gemelli hospital.

Pope Francis has left Gemelli University Hospital in Rome, shortly after making his first public appearance following a five-week long hospitalisation.

The 88-year-old, who was admitted on February 14, greeted his well-wishers on Sunday from a balcony of Gemelli hospital before his discharge.

Using a wheelchair, as he has for several years, the pope smiled, waved, and made a sign of a thumbs up at a group of well-wishers gathered outside below.

The pope, whose face looked swollen, appeared only for a few moments.

Francis spoke briefly, with a feeble voice, to thank one an elderly woman among the crowd below, who had brought yellow flowers.

Later, a car carrying Francis left the hospital shortly after noon, and was accompanied through Rome by a convoy of police vehicles.

On Saturday, one of the doctors treating him said the head of the Roman Catholic Church would be discharged from hospital on Sunday and would need two months of rest at the Vatican.

Francis had only been seen by the public once before during his hospital stay, in a photo the Vatican released last week, showing the pontiff at prayer in a hospital chapel.

In the moments before the pontiff’s appearance on Sunday, the crowd of hundreds of well-wishers called out for the pope, chanting “Francis, Francis, Francis”.