The abdominal hernia operation to which Pope Francis underwent this Wednesday at the Gemelli hospital in Rome, for which he had to receive general anesthesia, has ended without complications, the Vatican has confirmed.
“The surgical intervention has ended. It has been carried out without complications and has lasted three hours,” explains a brief statement from the Holy See, which has not yet offered further details.
The 86-year-old pontiff will have to stay hospitalized for a few days and the Prefecture of the Papal Household, which manages his agenda, canceled all his activities on Wednesday until June 18.
Immediately afterwards, the Pope was transferred to the Gemelli pontifical apartment, on the tenth floor, according to local media reports.
Francisco received general anesthesia, as confirmed by the Holy See in a statement this morning. The surgical intervention was carried out by the team of surgeon Sergio Alfieri, who already operated on his colon two years ago.
Specifically, a laparotomy was performed on an abdominal incisional hernia, probably produced after his colon operation two years ago, given the risk that it could cause intestinal obstruction.
The Vatican explained that “the operation, arranged in recent days by the medical team assisting the Pope, has become necessary because of an incarcerated incisional hernia that is causing recurrent, painful, and worsening subocclusive syndromes.”
This is the third time that the Pope has been admitted to the Roman hospital, where he was admitted for three nights at the end of March for “acute pneumonia.” He also suffers from a problem in his right knee that forces him to walk with a cane or use a wheelchair and he has assured on several occasions that he does not want to undergo surgery.
During a press conference on his return from a trip, he confessed that the anesthesia affected him a lot during the colon operation and “it still carries some effects.” “You don’t play with anesthesia and that’s why you think it’s not convenient,” he said regarding this possible operation.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project