VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - After 38 days in hospital battling double pneumonia almost entirely out of sight, Pope Francis made his first public appearance on Sunday since February 14 and returned to the Vatican.

The Pope appeared on a public balcony at Rome's Gemelli hospital to bless the crowd shortly before being discharged, in his first public outing in five weeks.

A weak and frail Pope Francis left the hospital on Sunday after surviving a five-week, life-threatening bout of pneumonia, giving a thumbs up to an adoring crowd and taking a detour to go pray at a Rome-area church before returning home to the Vatican.