After a ten-day stay following an abdominal operation, Pope Francis, 86, left the Gemelli Hospital in Rome on Friday morning June 16 to return to the Vatican. The Argentinian Jesuit left the Gemelli polyclinic in a wheelchair at 8:45 a.m., smiling, greeted by a crowd of faithful and journalists massed at the entrance of the establishment. “Still alive,” he replied to a reporter asking how he was feeling.
Jorge Bergoglio underwent a three-hour operation on June 7 under general anesthesia to resolve painful “adhesions” on his abdominal wall, consequences of his colon operation in July 2021 which had already resulted in a ten-day hospitalization. Throughout his recovery, the Vatican published daily health bulletins intended to be reassuring.
Besides resting, the pope also returned to work from his room on the 10th floor of the Gemelli, known as the “Hospital of the Popes”, in the same room used on many occasions by John Paul II. His hearings have been canceled until June 18.
Third hospitalization in less than two years
After lung surgery at the age of 21, the head of the Catholic Church is regularly forced to lighten his schedule due to health problems. In recent months, rumors about the possibility of a renunciation of his office and his succession have redoubled in intensity.
Because it is the third hospitalization of the pope in less than two years. At the end of March, he had already returned to Gemelli Hospital for a respiratory infection, which had required antibiotic treatment for three days. “I’m still alive!” “, he had already replied, smiling at the journalists and faithful massed around the hospital when he left.
Despite these repeated medical alerts, François keeps a busy schedule, with sometimes a dozen appointments in the same morning. He also continues to travel. The program of his highly anticipated visit to Portugal in early August for World Youth Day (WYD) in Lisbon includes around twenty meetings and eleven speeches. He is also due to travel to Mongolia in early September and to Marseilles in southern France on September 23.