Pope Francis is said to be conscious after his first night in the hospital following a three-hour operation to remove intestinal scar tissue and repair a hernia in his abdominal wall, both of which were complications from prior surgeries.
‘The night went well,’ said Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni in an early Thursday statement, adding that more information would be published later.
Dr. Sergio Alfieri, director of abdominal and endocrine sciences at Rome’s Gemelli hospital, said the operation on Wednesday went well and that no problems or other pathologies were identified.
Francis had requested the surgery after complaining of growing bouts of pain and intestinal obstructions. Following his general audience on Wednesday, Francis was admitted to Gemelli for checkups and underwent the procedure a short time later.
The procedure was most likely scheduled now to give Francis enough of time to recover before heading to Portugal for World Youth Day on August 2-6, and Mongolia on August 31-September 4.
Doctors removed adhesions, or internal scarring, on the intestine that had produced a partial obstruction during the operation. Alfieri disclosed that, in addition to the 2021 colon operation, Francis had earlier abdominal surgeries in his native Argentina before 2013, which had also resulted in scarring.
A prosthetic mesh was implanted in the abdominal wall to treat the hernia that had grown over a preexisting scar, according to Alfieri. He noted that the pope has no other diseases, that the tissue removed was benign, and that he should be well after he recovers.
A feared protrusion, or bulging of the intestine through the hernia rip, did not appear to be discovered.
‘It appears they operated on him in a timely manner with no risk to his bowel,’ said Dr. Walter Longo, chief of colon and rectal surgery at Yale University School of Medicine, who did not participate in the surgery but made his comments after reviewing the Vatican statement on the procedure.
According to canon law, Francis remained in authority of the Vatican and the 1.3 billion-strong Catholic Church even while unconscious and in the hospital.
Francis spent 10 days at Gemelli in July 2021 to have 33 centimeters (13 inches) of his big intestine removed. Francis told The Associated Press in January that the diverticulosis, or bulges in his gut wall, that prompted surgery had resurfaced.
Francis regretted after the procedure that he had not responded well to the general anesthetic. This reaction explains, in part, his refusal to have surgery to repair damaged knee ligaments that have caused him to use a wheelchair and walker for over a year.
