ROME (AP) — The Vatican said Monday that Pope Francis is “in good condition, alert and breathing on his own,” a day after he underwent a three-hour operation that involved removing half his colon.
Francis, 84, is expected to stay in Rome’s Gemelli Polyclinic, a Catholic hospital, for about seven days “barring complications,” Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said.
The brief medical bulletin contained the first details the Vatican released, coming more than 12 hours after the end of Sunday’s surgery. The procedure was necessitated by what the Holy See said was a diverticular stenosis, or narrowing the pope’s sigmoid portion of the large intestine.
“His Holy Father is in good, general condition, alert and breathing spontaneously,” Bruni said in a written statement. “The operation for the diverticular stenosis, performed during the evening of July 4, involved a left hemicolectomy and lasted for about three hours,” Bruni said.
That procedure entails removing the left side of the colon and attaching the remaining parts of the large intestine.
Francis was spending his first morning convalescing in a Rome hospital following the surgery on the left side of his large intestine.
Before Monday’s statement, the Vatican had given scant details about the operation at Gemelli Polyclinic. an capital.
Earlier, an Italian cardinal told reporters he had been informed that Francis was doing OK post-operatively.
“Our prayer and our closeness are very great,” Cardinal Enrico Feroci said at Rome’s airport where he was catching a flight. The Italian news agency ANSA quoted him as saying that he had heard earlier in the morning from another cardinal, Angelo De Donatis, “and he told me that the pope is well.” De Donatis is the vicar of the Rome diocese.
Francis is staying in special, 10th floor suite that the hospital keeps available for use by a pontiff, after Pope John Paul II stayed there several times for various medical problems.
When the Vatican announced on Sunday afternoon that Francis had been admitted to hospital for a planned operation, it said that he needed surgery because he had developed a narrowing of the sigmoid portion of the large intestine.
Without citing sources, Rome daily Il Messaggero reported that “complications” arose during the surgery. Without specifying what happened, the newspaper said that the surgeons, after starting to operate via laparoscopy, ended up having to do incisions.
Laparoscopy is a kind of surgical procedure often dubbed “keyhole surgery” since it allows the surgeon access to the inside of the abdomen without requiring large incisions. In the kind of surgery the Vatican said the pope was getting, laparoscopy is commonly used, experts have said.
Patients having laparoscopic surgery generally require shorter hospital stays.
Twice daily updates on Francis’ condition were expected to be issued by the Vatican.
Doctors not connected to the pope’s hospitalization have said it is common to perform a re-sectioning of the affected part of the bowel in such cases.
Get-well messages continued to arrive for the pope. Italian Premier Mario Draghi’s office said the leader “expresses affectionate wishes for a rapid convalescence and quick healing.”
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VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican says Pope Francis has “reacted well” to planned intestinal surgery at a Rome hospital. In a statement late Sunday, a Holy See spokesman says the 84-year-old Francis had general anesthesia during the surgery necessitated by a narrowing of the sigmoid portion of the large intestine.
The Vatican gave little detail about the pontiff’s condition. Spokesman Matteo Bruni didn’t say how long Sunday's surgery lasted or give any other details of the procedure. Bruni also didn't say for how long the pope was unconsciousness under anesthesia or how long Francis is expected to stay in Rome’s Agostino Gemelli Polyclinic. Francis is expected to convalesce in a special 10th floor suite reserved for popes.
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis was hospitalized in Rome on Sunday afternoon for scheduled surgery on his large intestine, the Vatican said. The news came just three hours after Francis had cheerfully greeted the public in St. Peter’s Square and told them he will go to Hungary and Slovakia in September.
It was the pope’s first known hospitalization since he was elected to the papacy in 2013.
The brief statement from the Holy See’s press office promised a medical update after the surgery was complete at Gemelli Polyclinic, a Catholic teaching hospital. The Vatican didn’t say when the surgery would begin, only indicating it would take place later in the day.
By 9 p.m., there was no indication when the Vatican might issue the update.
The Vatican said the 84-year-old 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.
A week earlier, Francis had used his same Sunday appearance to ask the public for special prayers for himself, which may have been related to 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 — part of the intestine can sometimes narrow and surgery might be required, according to gastroenterologists. Such surgery can be performed under general anesthesia, possibly with a laparoscopic intervention. Sometimes a re-sectioning of the affected part of the intestine is needed.
Francis is in generally good health, but he 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.
A 10th-floor papal suite is kept available at the hospital in case of need.
While Church law provides for a prelate to take over the administration of the Roman Catholic Church if a pope dies, there is no known provision for a delegation of powers if a pope is temporarily incapacitated, such while under anesthesia.
The pope had a particularly demanding set of appointments last week, including celebrating a Mass on Tuesday to mark the Catholic feast day honoring 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 U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Throughout all those engagements, Francis appeared to be in good spirits.
Usually, besides the traditional Sunday noon blessing and remarks from a window of the Apostolic Palace overlooking St. Peter’s Square, the pontiff holds a public audience every Wednesday. But, in deference to Rome’s heat, the Wednesday appointment gets suspended during July.
Get-well wishes began arriving immediately for Francis. Italian President Sergio Mattarella, as soon as he landed in Paris for a state visit in France, offered an “affectionate thought” on behalf of all Italians. Mattarella said he was wishing for “a good convalescence and even a speedier recovery” for the pope.
Gemelli doctors have performed surgery before on popes, notably Pope John Paul II, who had what the Vatican said was a benign tumor in his colon removed in 1992. John Paul had several other surgeries at the hospital, including after being shot by a gunman in St. Peter’s Square in 1981.
John Paul also had several medical issues in his final years, including severe complications from Parkinson’s disease, and had numerous stays at Gemelli.
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VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican says Pope Francis has gone to a Rome hospital for scheduled surgery for a stenosis, or restriction, of the large intestine. The brief announcement Sunday afternoon didn’t say when the surgery would be performed but it said there would be an announcement when the surgery is complete.
Just three hours earlier, Francis had cheerfully greeted the public in St. Peter’s Square in keeping with a Sunday tradition and told them he will go to Hungary and Slovakia in September. A week earlier, Francis, 84, had used the same appearance to ask the public for special prayers for himself, which, in hindsight might have been hinting at the planned surgery at Rome’s Gemelli Polyclinic.