Pope Francis, 86, ‘doing well’ and even ‘joking’ after abdominal surgery went without complications, surgeon says after another day of health concerns of the Argentinian Jesuit.
This “benign” operation, decided on Tuesday, will not cause any sequelae and Jorge Bergoglio does not suffer from any other pathology, said Professor Sergio Alfieri during a press conference at the Gemelli hospital in Rome.
The surgical act, which lasted three hours in the presence of a dozen doctors, consisted of a laparotomy (incision of the abdomen) and installation of a prosthesis. It followed a first colon operation undergone in July 2021, after which the Bishop of Rome was hospitalized for ten days.
For several months, the head of the Catholic Church, whose health appears increasingly fragile, suffered from severe pain in the intestine, due to an incisor hernia of the abdominal wall which had formed on the scars of previous interventions.
“As a precaution”, the pope’s audiences have been canceled until June 18, while the intervention will lead to “several days” of hospitalization, according to the Vatican.
After presiding over the general audience in St. Peter’s Square as every week and greeting the faithful aboard his “Papamobile”, the pope was taken at the end of the morning under police escort to the Gemelli hospital, in the north-west of the Italian capital.
After the operation, the exercise of his ministry will resume, “even if it is from a hospital bed”, indicated the Secretary of State and N.2 of the Holy See, Cardinal Pietro Parolin. “In case of urgent files, they will be taken to him at the Gemelli Hospital.”
“The pope is alert and aware and thanks for the many messages of closeness and prayer that immediately reached him,” said Professor Alfieri, head of the establishment’s complex digestive surgery unit, who had already operated in 2021.
He “responded well to both the operation and the anesthesia” and “has teased me before,” he added.
On Tuesday, the head of the Catholic Church had already gone to the Gemelli hospital for medical “examinations”, but the Vatican had not specified for what reasons.
He said he kept “after-effects” from the July 2021 anesthesia, which prompted him to rule out knee surgery so far, which he has suffered for many months.
In January, he had revealed again to suffer from diverticulitis, an inflammation of the diverticula, hernias or pockets which form on the walls of the digestive system.
Lung operated at the age of 21, affected by hip and knee problems, François, elected in 2013, is regularly forced to lighten his schedule due to health problems, which fuel speculation.
At the end of March, he had already returned to the Gemelli Hospital for a respiratory infection, which required antibiotic treatment for three days and caused deep concern among the faithful, compounded by confused communication from the Vatican.
Two weeks ago, during an interview with the Spanish-speaking television Telemundo, he confided that this “pneumonia” had been treated “in time”. “If we had waited a few more hours, it would have been much more serious,” he admitted.
After his operation on Wednesday, the pope will stay on the tenth floor of the Gemelli hospital reserved for popes, in the same room used on numerous occasions by John Paul II.
Jorge Bergoglio also suffers from chronic knee pain, which forces him to move around in a wheelchair or using a cane.
In recent months, speculation about the possibility of a renunciation of his office and his succession has redoubled in intensity.
He has repeatedly said he would consider resigning — like his predecessor Benedict XVI, who died in December — if his health were to fail, but recently said that was not on the table.
Despite these repeated medical alerts, François maintains a busy schedule and a steady pace, with sometimes a dozen appointments in the same morning.
He also continues to travel, with a particularly full agenda in the coming months: he is due to go to Portugal in early August, to Mongolia in early September and to France, in Marseille (south) on September 23.
06/07/2023 20:28:56 – Rome (AFP) – © 2023 AFP