In the early morning hours of June 7, Pope Francis was taken to the Gemelli hospital in Rome. He is set to undergo surgery on his intestinal later today and is likely to remain there for the duration of his rehabilitation, which is expected to take several days.
The Vatican made the announcement shortly after 10 a.m., following the pope’s weekly general audience, and one day after the pope paid an unannounced visit to the hospital on June 6 for what the Holy See Press Office later characterized as clinical tests. The visit came one day after the Vatican made the announcement about the unexpected procedure.
An incarcerated incisional hernia, which the Vatican described as causing recurring and worsening pain, will be repaired on the 86-year-old Pope Francis during an operation on his abdominal wall that will be performed under general anesthesia. The procedure will fix the hernia.
Francis had intestinal surgery in July 2021, during which he had half of his colon removed because he suffered from a disorder known as “stenotic diverticulitis,” which causes inflammation within the gut. This ailment caused Francis to have intestinal inflammation. Before making his way back to the Vatican, Francis was forced to remain in the Gemelli hospital in Rome for a total of 11 days.
The pope admitted in an interview with the Associated Press that the bulges that had appeared in the wall of his digestive tract had reappeared in January 2023.
He quipped at the time, “I might die tomorrow, but it’s under control,” referring to his condition. “My physical condition is excellent.”
The reduced mobility that the pope has experienced over the course of the past year has been the primary cause of his health problems. This is mostly due to a bone fracture that occurred in his knee. The previous year, he stated that he did not want to have the knee operation because of the negative side effects he had as a result of the anesthetic he received during his hospitalization in July 2021.
Despite the fact that the Pope was hospitalized for bronchitis for three nights at the beginning of April and underwent surgery on June 7, it will be the first time since his surgery in July 2021 that he will be under general anesthesia for the procedure.
The Holy See Press Office stated that the Pope’s current hospitalization was organized “in recent days,” and that it is anticipated that he will have a “full functional recovery.”
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