Pope Francis operated for inflammation of the colon

Published on : 07/05/2021 – 10:09

Pope Francis, 84, was admitted Sunday, July 4 to the Roman hospital A. Gemelli where he underwent “a planned surgery for symptomatic diverticular stenosis of the colon”. “The Holy Father reacted well to the intervention carried out under general anesthesia”, according to a Vatican press release published shortly before midnight (10 p.m. GMT).

The Pope suffers from a potentially painful inflammation of the diverticula, hernias or bags that form on the walls of the digestive system and the frequency of which increases with age. One of the possible complications of this condition is stenosis, which is a narrowing of the intestine.

The Pope arrived around 3 p.m. by car, without an escort, accompanied by his driver and a close collaborator. He could spend five days convalescing in a room on the 10^e hospital floor.

On a state visit to France, Italian President Sergio Mattarella sent a message of support to the Pope by sending him “the loving thoughts of all Italians”. And demonstrations of solidarity were pouring into the Facebook site of the official Vatican agency. “May the Holy Spirit guide the hand of the surgeon”, wrote for example Pina, a faithful Sicilian.

“I am not afraid of death”

Born December 17, 1936 in Argentina, Jorge Bergoglio had the upper lobe of his right lung removed at the age of 21 due to pleurisy. He suffers from hip problems and sciatica.

Sunday noon, he celebrated the traditional Regina Coeli Sunday prayer at the window of the Sainte-Marthe residence for the faithful gathered under a blazing sun on Saint-Pierre Square. He seemed in good shape and excited to announce a state visit to Slovakia from September 12 to 15, his second overseas trip only in 2021 after Iraq in March.

“I am not afraid of death”, he confided in a book of interviews carried out in 2019 with an Argentinian journalist. After the lung operation, “I never felt limited in my activities (…). I never felt fatigue or shortness of breath,” he assured.

In recent years, however, he has had to cancel a few appearances and sometimes walks with difficulty.

Increasingly fragile Benedict XVI

Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, which hit Italy hard in February 2020, he had seemed little worried about his own health, often traveling without a mask, even though he had to give up his usual baths. crowd during the Wednesday hearing.

Other than a cold that forced him to cancel appointments early in the epidemic, his health did not cause any particular concern.

Francis was elected in 2013 to succeed Benedict XVI, who had resigned in February of the same year, after eight years of pontificate. The first pope to resign in nearly 600 years, the German pope had cited health reasons.

Now 93 years old, he lives as a recluse in a Vatican City monastery. He has appeared more and more fragile in recent months, using a wheelchair and speaking with difficulty.

With AFP