Pope Francis, 86, will undergo emergency surgery under general anesthesia this Wednesday afternoon in Rome, due to a risk of intestinal obstruction, the Vatican announced.
The surgical intervention is “necessary” due to the aggravation of the symptoms presented by the Supreme Pontiff, indicated his medical team, and will require “several days” of hospitalization, said the director of the Holy See’s press service, Matteo Bruni.
After conducting the general audience in St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican, as every week, and greeting the faithful aboard the “popemobile”, the Argentine pontiff was taken under police escort to the Gemelli hospital, in the northwest of the Italian capital, where He arrived around noon, AFP confirmed.
“In the early afternoon, he will undergo a laparotomy and plastic surgery of the abdominal wall with a prosthesis, under general anesthesia,” Bruni explained in a statement.
Laparotomy is an intervention consisting of opening the abdomen. “The operation, prepared in recent days by the medical team assisting the Holy Father, has become necessary because of an incisional hernia that causes recurrent, painful, and worsening subocclusive syndromes,” Bruni added.
On Tuesday morning, the pope had to go through the Gemelli hospital to undergo “exams”, but the Vatican did not detail the nature of the tests.
In July 2021, the Bishop of Rome had to be hospitalized for about ten days in that same hospital to undergo a colon operation, in which a part of it was removed. As he said, he suffered “aftermath” of the anesthesia.
At the end of March, Francis, who was elected pope in 2013, again had to be admitted to the Gemmeli hospital for a respiratory infection that required antibiotics.
Two weeks ago, Francisco confided in an interview with Spanish-speaking television Telemundo that this “pneumonia” was treated “on time” and that if he had waited longer, it could have been more serious.
a failing health
After his operation this Wednesday, the Pope plans to stay on the tenth floor of the Gemelli hospital, in the same room used by Pope John Paul II, who underwent surgery on several occasions at that medical center.
Jorge Bergoglio also suffers from chronic knee pain, which forces him to move in a wheelchair or with the help of a cane.
The head of the Catholic Church also had to cancel his scheduled appointments on May 26 due to a feverish state, which did not require hospital admission. The next day he resumed his commitments.
The holy father’s health has regularly fueled speculation about a possible resignation. On several occasions he said that he would consider resigning – as did his predecessor Benedict XVI, who died on December 31 – if his health forced him to, but recently he said that such a scenario was not topical.
Despite everything, Francisco maintains his travel program. At the beginning of August he plans to visit Lisbon for the World Youth Days, and in September he has scheduled trips to Mongolia and Marseille, in the south of France.
The pope is permanently followed by a medical team, both in the Vatican and during his visits abroad.
A necessary device, especially when he has a heavy medical history behind him, since at the age of 21 he suffered pleurisy, a serious condition that led to the partial ablation of one lung.