Pope Francis has already resumed his regular schedule at the Vatican after being discharged after undergoing a three-hour operation for an abdominal hernia. The Pontiff reappeared yesterday, with a fragile voice but good humor, at the Angelus every Sunday in Saint Peter’s Square, in which he thanked the cries of “Long live the Pope!” dedicated to him by the 15,000 people present.
“I wish to express my gratitude to all those who, in the days of my admission to the Gemelli Polyclinic, have shown me affection, concern and friendship, and have assured me of the support of prayer. This human and spiritual closeness has been a great help and comfort to me. Thank you all, thanks to you, thank you from the bottom of my heart!”, assured the Pontiff at the beginning of his appearance.
It was the first time that Jorge Mario Bergoglio held a public event after returning, on Friday morning, to his residence in the Vatican’s Santa Marta house after more than a week recovering in the apartment for the popes on the tenth floor of the hospital. Gemelli Polyclinic in Rome, where this intervention was carried out, on June 7, due to the risk that this hernia would obstruct the intestine. Convalescence forced him to skip last Sunday’s Angelus, which he performed in private from his room, but this time, and despite the fact that his recovery continues in the Vatican, he did not want to miss it. Instead, to allow a greater rest during these days, the Holy See has confirmed that this week it will not star in the general audience every Wednesday at the Vatican. The private hearings scheduled for the next few days do continue, including a meeting, on Tuesday, with the Cuban president, Miguel Díaz-Canel; and another, on Wednesday, with the Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
As his doctors had advanced, the 86-year-old Pontiff was discharged on Friday after he had been progressing favorably in recent days. “I’m still alive”, he then joked with the journalists who were waiting for him at the hospital gates. The surgeon who operated on him, Sergio Alfieri, said that he is fine, “better than before”, referring to the pain caused by this abdominal hernia. “He will be a stronger Pope than before,” said the doctor, who accompanied him to the car. It was the third time that he had been admitted to the Roman hospital, after the colon operation that he underwent in July two years ago and the acute pneumonia that he suffered in March.
During the Angelus, the Pope did not forget the terrible shipwreck of a fishing boat off the Greek coast, in which it is suspected that up to 750 people were traveling, but only 78 bodies have been recovered and 104 survivors have been rescued. Francis recalled that Tuesday marks World Refugee Day, promoted by the United Nations, and said he thought of the victims of this tragedy “with great sadness and much pain.” “And it seems that the sea was calm. I renew my prayer for those who have lost their lives and I implore that everything possible is always done to prevent similar tragedies”, the Pontiff urged, leaning out of the window of the Apostolic Palace.
In addition, the Argentine Pope also dedicated a thought to Uganda, where dozens of people have died in an attack allegedly committed by a rebel group linked to the Islamic State at a secondary school in the west of the country. “This fight, this war on all sides… we pray for peace!” he stated.
