ROME — Pope Francis was being hospitalized for intestinal surgical procedure on Wednesday, the Vatican stated, a process anticipated to maintain the 86-year-old pontiff below take care of “a number of days” and raised recent issues about his declining well being.
The Vatican stated the process was designed to deal with an intestinal obstruction attributable to a “painful” hernia. Two years in the past, the pope had 13 inches of his colon eliminated to deal with a stenosis, or narrowing, of his giant gut.
Francis was set to be taken to Rome’s largest hospital — Gemelli — within the early afternoon Rome time, following basic audiences on the Vatican. The choice to maneuver ahead with the operation got here after he had exams a day earlier. Docs, the Vatican stated, would insert an intestinal prosthesis into the pope.
Regardless of issues about his well being, the pope has remained resilient and diligently stored a busy agenda. On Wednesday morning, he greeted the trustworthy in St. Peter’s Sq. after his basic viewers, blessing a baby with a hand on his head and making his rounds within the uncovered “popemobile” within the shiny daylight.
The pope, who had a part of a lung eliminated when he was a younger man, has suffered from growing well being points lately, with this the second hospitalization of the yr. He was dropped at Gemelli Hospital in March after coming down with bronchitis forward of Easter week celebrations, drawing widespread concern and hypothesis about his well being.
His final colon surgical procedure — in July 2021 — was a three-hour process carried out on the similar hospital. Though the pope has confirmed remarkably resilient and lively, he has confronted mounting challenges. He has suffered from power knee ache that prompted the usage of a wheelchair and a strolling stick.
Faiola reported from Lisbon.