Pope Francis is admitted to the Gemelli hospital in Rome for some “scheduled checks” in advance. This has been reported by the Vatican press office in a brief statement in which it has not given any further details, nor the time that the 86-year-old Pontiff is expected to remain in the hospital.
It is the same center, the Gemelli Polyclinic, where he was admitted in July 2021 ten days after undergoing colon surgery. On that occasion, 33 centimeters of intestine were removed, although he later revealed that he could eat and lead a normal life. However, in January he explained that the diverticulitis that forced him to have surgery for the first time had recurred, so he might need a major check-up.
Another health reason for which the Pope has suffered lately is his knee problems, which have forced him to use a wheelchair and postpone some trips. He could also be hospitalized for this reason, although the Vatican has not given more details.
Lately there have been improvements, he walks with the help of a cane and has said that his knee is on the right track. Jorge Mario Bergoglio has also said that he does not want to have surgery because he did not respond well to the anesthesia derived from his intervention in 2021.
Francisco has kept his schedule until the last minute and this morning he held his usual general audience on Wednesdays as normal. The hospital admission arrives a few days before the start of Holy Week, and the Vatican’s agenda includes an intense presence of the Pontiff, beginning with the Palm Sunday mass on April 2.
The Pontiff is extremely reserved in matters of health. When he had cataract surgery, he did it with absolute discretion. His biggest operation took place in his youth in his native Argentina, where part of a lung was removed, due to severe pneumonia.
Francis is on the tenth floor of the Policlinico Gemelli hospital in Rome, where there is an area permanently reserved for the popes, with even an ICU, and from where he wanted to pray the Angelus in July 2021. John Paul II was there. hospital floor almost ten times in his 27-year pontificate.
