Pope Francis doing well after planned surgery, Vatican says

Pope Francis is doing well after undergoing scheduled surgery on his large intestine, the Vatican said on Sunday.

Spokesman Matteo Bruni said in a statement that the 84-year-old pontiff “responded well” to the surgery, which was done under general aesthesia.

He gave no further details about the procedure and did not say how long the pope would remain in hospital.

The Vatican had earlier announced the pope would undergo surgery at the Gemelli Polyclinic, a Catholic teaching hospital in Rome.

The news came just three hours after Francis had cheerfully greeted the public in Saint Peter’s Square and told them he will go to Hungary and Slovakia in September.

It was the pope’s first known hospital treatment since he was elected to the papacy in 2013.

The Vatican said the pope had been diagnosed with “symptomatic diverticular stenosis of the colon”, a reference to a narrowing in the large intestine.

The surgery was to be performed by Dr Sergio Alfieri, the director of Gemelli’s digestive surgery department.

Pray for the pope

A week earlier, Francis had used his Sunday appearance to ask the public for special prayers for himself, which, in hindsight, might have hinted at the planned surgery.

“I ask you to pray for the pope, pray in a special way,” Francis had asked the faithful in the square on June 27.

“The pope needs your prayers,” he said, adding his thanks and saying: “I know you will do that.”

A diverticulum is pouch-like protrusion through the muscular wall of the intestine.

When diverticula become inflamed – a common condition, especially in older people – a narrowing of that part of the intestine can sometimes occur, and surgery might be required, according to gastroenterological experts.

Such a surgery can be performed with general anaesthesia, possibly with a laparoscopic intervention. Sometimes a resectioning of the affected portion of the intestine is needed.

Francis is in generally good health, but did have part of one lung removed as a young man.

He also suffers from sciatica, in which a nerve affects the lower back and leg, a painful condition that has forced him at times to skip scheduled appearances.

The pope had a particularly demanding set of appointments last week, including celebrating a Mass on Tuesday to mark the Catholic feast day honouring saints Peter and Paul, and later in the week, presiding at a special prayer service for Lebanon.

On June 28, he also had a long private audience at the Vatican with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Throughout all those engagements, Francis appeared to be in good spirits.

Get-well wishes

Italian President Sergio Mattarella offered an “affectionate thought” on behalf of all Italians.

Mattarella added that he was wishing for “a good convalescence and even a speedier recovery” for the pope.

Gemelli doctors have performed surgery before on a papal patient, notably Pope John Paul II, who had what the Vatican said was a benign tumour in his colon removed in 1992.