Image: (APA/AFP/ANDREAS SOLARO)
After Wednesday’s general audience, the Pope left the Vatican and was admitted to the Agostino Gemelli Polyclinic, Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni reported. The 86-year-old pontiff underwent open abdominal surgery to stave off an intestinal obstruction. All of the Pope’s appointments have been canceled through June 18, the Vatican said.
No information about history
The Pope drove to the hospital in his car. He was awaited there by a group of journalists and patients. Francis moved into a room on the tenth floor of the polyclinic, known as the “Popes’ apartment” because his predecessors had often been treated here. Francis had already spent a ten-day stay here in connection with his colon surgery on July 4, 2021. The operation was performed by the respected surgeon Sergio Alfieri, who had previously operated on Francis in 2021. After the operation, the Pope was taken back to his room, Italian media reported. For the time being, there was no information about the course of the operation.
“The operation, coordinated in recent days by the medical team assisting the Holy Father, became necessary due to an impacted laparocele. The stay in the health facility will last several days to allow for the normal postoperative course and the full functional recovery,” the Vatican press release said. A laparocele is a rupture of the abdominal wall (hernia) caused by a surgical scar.
Third hospital stay since July 2021
This is the Pope’s third hospitalization at the Roman Polyclinic since July 2021. He was hospitalized again in March 2023 when he fell ill with pneumonia. A few months ago, the Pope reported in an interview that sclerosing diverticulitis – painful protuberances in the small or large intestine – is making itself felt again.
Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin said he hoped Pope Francis would soon be able to resume office after his surgery. “We follow him with our affection. We accompany him with our prayers and hope that he can exercise his office again,” Parolin told journalists.
Many well wishes
Italian President Sergio Mattarella wished the Pope a speedy recovery. “All the Italian people are close to you with feelings of affection and solidarity. You can count at this moment, along with the prayers of the Catholic faithful, the compassionate thoughts of countless people, believers and non-believers alike,” Mattarella wrote in a statement.
The Austrian bishops conveyed prayers and well-wishes to the pope, as reported by Kathpress. “Let us pray for his speedy recovery and recovery, and that the Almighty may keep him in good health as head of the Church for a long time to come,” writes Archbishop Franz Lackner, chairman of the Austrian Bishops’ Conference, in a post on the social media channels of the Archdiocese of Salzburg.
Schönborn prays for Francis
“My prayers and thoughts go to Pope Francis in particular this afternoon, who has to undergo another serious operation during these hours,” wrote Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, Archbishop of Vienna, on Twitter on Wednesday. “Let’s accompany him with our prayers! May the Lord protect him and give him full health again soon,” said Schönborn.
“Let’s pray together for the Holy Father’s recovery,” said Wilhelm Krautwaschl, bishop of the Graz-Seckau diocese, in a letter to Kathpress. “On Corpus Christi we celebrate that the Lord is with us – visible in the Eucharist,” said the Bishop of Graz. He is “with us always, to the end of the age,” says the Gospel of Matthew. “I ask for God’s help especially for Pope Francis, who has to spend this festival in the hospital.”
“In view of the serious operation that Pope Francis has to undergo today, I ask all believers to pray for the head of our church,” Innsbruck Bishop Hermann Glettler wrote in a statement to Kathpress. Glettler is grateful for Francis’ tireless work and “confident that he will continue his pastoral ministry in the future with unbroken clarity and spirited freshness”.
Resignation due to health condition?
The bowel operation fuels new concerns about the health of the Argentine, who celebrated the tenth anniversary of his pontificate on March 13 and has been suffering from health problems for a long time. At the end of March, Francis had to be treated clinically for pneumonia. At that time he spent three days in the hospital. Because of his severe knee problems, he often has to come to appointments in a wheelchair.
In recent interviews, Francis had not ruled out that he could resign due to health problems. A resignation could come from “tiredness, which doesn’t let you see things clearly,” he said in a recent interview. The main problem for him is his limited mobility due to knee problems. This is a “physical humiliation”. He was “ashamed” to have to appear in a wheelchair for audiences. In February he had emphasized that resigning from office was “currently not on my plan”.
Source: Nachrichten
