Pope Francis has already made his first joke shortly after waking up from the general anesthesia to which he has been subjected to undergo emergency surgery this Wednesday for an abdominal hernia to avoid intestinal obstruction. The Pontiff has been operated on “successfully” at the Gemelli Polyclinic hospital, reported the spokesman for the Holy See, Matteo Bruni, after a three-hour intervention that was decided this Tuesday, after the Pontiff felt severe pain for months .
“The first thing is that the Pope is fine, I think that this is the news that we all expected. He is fine, awake, conscious and has already made a joke ten minutes ago, â€said the surgeon, Sergio Alfieri, the same doctor who operated on him in 2021 to remove 33 centimeters of his colon due to some diverticula. Now Francisco will need between five and seven days to fully recover, although due to his age – 86 years old – and after having undergone other operations in the past, his doctors want to opt for caution. As a precaution, the Prefecture of the Papal Household, which manages its agenda, has canceled its audiences until June 18.
Alfieri has stressed that the Argentine pope does not suffer from other ailments and has wanted to clarify “once and for all” that he is completely cured of the operation in July 2021, and that it was due to a “benign disease”. “He will have to do a postoperative period, but once he is discharged he will leave no trace or concern,” said the doctor, who said that he will be able to recover his activity normally and has only recommended that he avoid making great efforts. “He looked at me as if to say: ‘I am the pope. I don’t lift weights,'” Alfieri joked.
On this occasion, the doctor wanted to make a statement to the press – it is the first time something like this has happened in this pontificate – to explain that they decided to operate on him in agreement with Francisco and his personal doctor after he had manifested painful symptoms in recent months and every more frequent due to an abdominal incisional hernia that was surely the consequence of other operations produced in the past, such as peritonitis from which he was cured in Argentina, which would have left scars in the intestine. He has had a laparotomy performed which “released” these internal scars and prevented him from having a blockage in the future.
The operation took place one day after the Pope went in his private car to the Gemelli Polyclinic to undergo some tests, including a CT scan, after which the doctors decided it was time to operate. He is now resting in the apartment reserved for the parents on the tenth floor of this hospital, the same one where he spent three nights admitted at the end of March for acute pneumonia that was treated with antibiotics. It was also here that he recovered from colon surgery in 2021, which required a longer postoperative period and was discharged after ten days. The Pope has reacted well to the general anesthesia and when he has woken up he has displayed his usual sense of humor. “When do we do the third?” He asked his doctor, ironically.
When he has just celebrated the tenth anniversary of his pontificate, the health of the Argentine pope is increasingly in the spotlight, since he also needs to use a cane or a wheelchair to get around due to his knee problems. However, he shows no sign of wanting to slow down. Just before going to the hospital for surgery, he conducted his Wednesday general audience as normal, and he has two trips planned this summer. The first, at the beginning of August, when he will attend the World Youth Days in Lisbon. And the second, at the beginning of September in Mongolia, which will be the first apostolic trip of a pope to this country with just 1,500 Catholics.
