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Rudy Giuliani, 81, is recovering from a severe case of viral pneumonia that led him into a coma in early May.
The former New York City mayor returned to his online talk show “America’s Mayor Live!” on May 13 and opened up about his health status.
“I feel like I’ve recovered 100%,” he said. “I’ve been home a few days and doing really, really well.”
RUDY GIULIANI OUT OF ICU, CONTINUING TO RECOVER IN HOSPITAL: ‘HE’S WINNING THIS FIGHT’
Giuliani reflected on his time in the hospital, revealing that he had a “very significant spiritual experience” while he was in a “state of out of it.”
“I would equate it to a dream of being on line headed for — I can’t say headed for heaven — headed for a trial with St. Peter,” he described.
“And there was a very, very significant intervention by my Peter. I have my own Peter, Peter Powers. Peter J. Powers, my friend of my lifetime.”
During this dream state, Peter said some “very significant words,” which Giuliani made sure to repeat and have others record when he woke up, he shared.
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“As soon as I could, I wrote it out so that I wouldn’t forget it, and it’s meant a lot to me, and I’ve been reflecting on it quite a bit,” he added.
Giuliani was able to discuss his experience with a priest — and plans to share more at a different time.
“I don’t want to embellish it,” he said. “I don’t want to deny what was there.”
Powers and Giuliani reportedly became friends in high school. Powers later served as Giuliani’s campaign manager and his first deputy mayor. He died in 2016 at 72 years old from complications with lung cancer, according to multiple news outlets.
Giuliani was hospitalized in critical but stable condition on Sunday, May 3, due to severe breathing issues.
Giuliani’s doctor, Maria Ryan, told Fox News correspondent Danamarie McNicholl that the former mayor began feeling ill after returning from a trip to Paris, with his breathing deteriorating to the point that he was placed on a ventilator.
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Ryan said his condition turned critical, prompting a priest to be called to his bedside to perform last rites. But by Tuesday, Giuliani’s condition had improved enough for doctors to remove him from the ventilator.
According to political strategist Ted Goodman, Giuliani’s response and exposure to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks later led to a diagnosis of restrictive airway disease.
Although Giuliani and his doctors have not confirmed that he had a “near-death experience,” similar encounters are often reported by people emerging from critical medical situations.
In a 2023 review published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology, researchers analyzed more than four decades of reports of near-death experiences, involving more than 2,000 studies and nearly 500 individuals.
Near-death events were categorized into four types of experiences: emotional, cognitive, spiritual/religious and supernatural.
The research identified common traits in these reports – especially having out-of-body experiences, passing through a tunnel, having heightened senses, seeing deceased people or religious figures, encountering a bright light and reviewing life events.
Although these experiences can differ by interpretation, the researchers concluded that the heightened senses and improved consciousness indicate that “these experiences are neither dreams nor sleep, nor the disorders caused.”
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“This phenomenon is medically inexplicable,” they wrote, adding that the research points to a consistent pattern that “supports the clarity and authenticity of near-death experiences.”
Fox News Digital’s Landon Mion contributed reporting.
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