Rome – Pope Francis underwent appendectomy on Wednesday after two years 13 inches of his colon were removed Due to inflammation and narrowing of the large intestine.
The procedure successfully removed intestinal scar tissue and repaired a hernia in Francis’ abdominal wall, the latest ailments for the 86-year-old pontiff.
The Vatican said there were no complications during the three-hour operation, which required Francis to be under general anesthesia. The pontiff was expected to stay at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital for several days, and all papal visits were canceled until June 18.
Gemelli’s Director of Stomach and Endocrine Sciences Dr. Sergio Alfieri said the surgery was a success. After a while, Pope was awake, alert, and humorous.
“When do we do the third?” He quoted Francis as saying.
During the operation, doctors removed adhesions or internal scarring in the intestine, which had caused a partial blockage and pain in recent months. Alfiri revealed that Francis underwent previously undisclosed abdominal surgeries in Argentina prior to 2013, which also resulted in scarring.
An artificial mesh was placed in the abdominal wall to repair a hernia that had formed over a previous scar, Alfieri said. He said the Pope was not suffering from any other illness, the tissue removed was benign, and after his recovery, he should be fine.
A dreaded protrusion or swelling of the bowel is not evident with a herniated tear.
Dr. Walter Longo, MD, chief of colon and rectal surgery at Yale University School of Medicine, who was not involved in the surgery, “appears to have operated on him at the right time without any compromise of his bowel.” Vatican report on practice.
Nardi Health / Reuters
“The stay at the healthcare facility will last several days to allow for a normal post-operative course and full functional recovery,” the statement said.
Francis spent 10 days at Gemelli in July 2021 for his previous appendectomy. He experienced what the Vatican said was severe bloating and colon spasms.
In an interview with The Associated Press in January, Francis said the diverticulosis, or inflammation in his intestinal wall, that prompted the 2021 surgery had returned.
Francis visited Gemelli on Tuesday for what the Vatican said were medical examinations. No details were released at the time.
Francis, 86, appeared in fine form to his audience in St. Peter’s Square on Wednesday morning, zipping around the square in his popemobile and greeting the faithful. Earlier on Wednesday morning he held two meetings, the Vatican said.
The Argentine pope had part of a lung removed when he was a teenager. He suffers from sciatica nerve pain and has been using a wheelchair and walker for over a year because the ligaments in his knee are pulled.
The Pope spent three days in hospital at the end of March. Initially, the Vatican said he went for scheduled tests, but he later revealed he felt pain in his chest and was taken to hospital, where he was diagnosed with bronchitis. He was put on intravenous antibiotics and released on April 1. He joked that he was “still alive”.
With many visitors each day, Francis had a packed schedule. The Vatican recently confirmed a travel-filled August with a four-day visit to Portugal in the first week of August and a similarly long trip to Mongolia from August 31, while the Holy See and Italy are on vacation.
In a sign of the high volume of visits, the Vatican on Tuesday released a planned itinerary for Francis’ visit to Portugal for World Youth Day events from Aug. 2-6. The itinerary accommodates a typically busy schedule that includes all the formal meetings of an official state visit and several events with youth and a day trip to the Marian Shrine in Fatima.
