Pope Francis, 86, must undergo emergency surgery under general anesthesia in Rome for a risk of intestinal obstruction, the Vatican announced on Wednesday June 7.

This surgical intervention, made “necessary” by the aggravation of the symptoms presented by the sovereign pontiff, according to his medical team, will lead to “several days” of hospitalization, said in a press release the director of the press service of the Holy See, Matteo Bruni.

Prior to his transfer, Francis appeared in fine form during his audience in St. Peter’s Square, riding around the square in his popemobile to greet the faithful. He also had two meetings Wednesday morning before the hearing, the Vatican said.

“At the end of the general audience, the Holy Father went to the Gemelli University Hospital, where, in the early afternoon, he will undergo a surgical operation of laparotomy and plastic surgery of the abdominal wall. with prostheses, under general anesthesia,” Bruni explained.

The operation, considered “in recent days by the medical team assisting the Holy Father, has become necessary due to an incisional hernia that causes recurrent, painful and worsening sub-occlusive syndromes”, said he added.

On Tuesday morning, the pope had already undergone examinations in a Roman hospital, two months after being hospitalized for pneumonia, the Vatican announced. Several Italian media had reported that the pope had gone for about forty minutes to the Gemelli polyclinic before joining the Sainte-Marthe residence where he resides.

At the end of March, François had already been treated for three days in this establishment for a respiratory infection.

An increasingly fragile health

Pope Francis said two weeks ago in an interview with Spanish-language television Telemundo that this “pneumonia” had been treated “in time”. “If we had waited a few more hours, it would have been much worse,” he said.

The pope, whose health appears increasingly fragile, had also canceled his appointments on May 26 due to a feverish state, which did not, however, require hospitalization. He resumed his activities the next day.

In July 2021, the Bishop of Rome had already been hospitalized for ten days for a heavy colon operation. He claims to have kept “after-effects” from the anesthesia, which have led him to rule out knee surgery so far.

The health of Jorge Bergoglio, elected in 2013, regularly fuels speculation about the possibility of a waiver of his office and his succession.

He has repeatedly said he would consider resigning – like his predecessor, Benedict XVI, who died in December 2022 – if his health were to fail, but he recently claimed that was not on the table.

However, François’ travel program is maintained for the time being. The Vatican on Tuesday published the program for its visit to Portugal from August 2 to 6, on the occasion of World Youth Day (WYD), which will see the pontiff visit Lisbon and the Marian shrine of Fatima. The pope is also due to visit Mongolia in early September, as well as Marseille on September 23.