The head of the church will spend the next few days in a clinic. An urgent operation must be performed. It is already clear which intervention is involved.
Great concern for Pope Francis: The 86-year-old pontiff needs abdominal surgery. The urgent intervention was planned for Wednesday, as announced by the Holy See. The head of the Catholic Church arrived at the Gemelli Hospital in north-west Rome from the Vatican late in the morning. The operation under general anesthesia was scheduled for the afternoon. In 2021 Francis underwent a complex intestinal operation there.
Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni announced that there would be no information about the Pope’s condition until the end of the operation. However, a hospital stay of “several days” is assumed.
fracture in the abdomen
Francis’ medical team have decided in the past few days that the Argentine must be operated on for a so-called laparocele. A laparocele is a fracture in the abdomen. The message from the Holy See spoke of recurring pain. There is also a risk of intestinal obstruction, it said. Therefore, the procedure called laparotomy, which is the opening of the abdominal cavity, became necessary.
Carsten J. Krones, board member of the Professional Association of German Surgery (BDC), said at the request of the German Press Agency that the operation described by the Vatican is a “standard procedure for scar hernias”. “The illness and the intervention are certainly serious for an elderly gentleman and, depending on the anatomy, also demanding, but not acutely life-threatening,” he added, but emphasized that he did not know the rest of Francis’ disease profile.
“The Pope needs our prayers,” tweeted Vatican News, the Vatican’s official news platform. A number of journalists and reporter teams gathered in front of Gemelli Hospital. The developments are being followed “with affection, with our prayers,” said Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, who is considered number two in the Vatican. He hopes that the Pope will get better soon.
On the morning of his hospitalization, the Pope held his weekly general audience in front of thousands of people in St. Peter’s Square. When the Vatican press room sent out the announcement for the operation, Francis was still in the square to meet believers and newlyweds.
The day before he was already in the Gemelli Hospital in Rome to be examined. On Tuesday there was still talk of planned controls – but apparently the operation was being prepared.
Already in 2021 surgery due to intestinal problems
In 2021, the Argentine had already been operated under general anesthesia for an intestinal condition – a so-called diverticulitis. The doctors removed part of the large intestine. He spent around ten days in the hospital at the time. After that, it was said that he had not tolerated the general anesthesia well. But Francis also reported that the operation probably saved his life at the time.
This year, too, he had to be treated as an inpatient in the clinic that has a special area with several rooms just for the Pope. At the end of March he spent three days in the hospital because of pneumonia, as he himself later described.
Source: Stern
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