A member of the Italian Polizia di Stato stands guard
outside Rome’s Gemelli hospital where the Pope is
recovering. Photo: CNS Pope Francis is in “good general condition, alert and breathing spontaneously,” after undergoing colon surgery at the weekend the Vatican has confirmed.
“The surgery for diverticular stenosis performed the evening of July 4 involved a left hemicolectomy and lasted about three hours,” a statement from the Holy See Press Office said. “A stay of about seven days is expected, barring complications.”
A left hemicolectomy is the removal of the descending part of the colon and can be recommended to treat diverticulitis, when bulging pouches in the lining of the intestine or colon become inflamed or infected.
The 84-year-old Pope was admitted to Rome’s Gemelli hospital in the early afternoon July 4 after leading the midday recitation of the Angelus with visitors gathered in St Peter’s Square.
As has been his custom, Pope Francis already had suspended his weekly general audience and other meetings for the month of July, except for the Sunday recitation of the Angelus.
It is possible that Pope Francis’ midday Angelus appointment July 11 could take place at the Gemelli hospital, as it did on several occasions when St John Paul II was hospitalised there. The hospital maintains a suite of rooms for the papal use when necessary.
Scheduled
Announcing Pope Francis’ hospitalisation in the mid-afternoon July 4, the Vatican press office had said he was to undergo “a scheduled surgical intervention for a symptomatic diverticular stenosis of the colon”.
About seven hours later, after the surgery had been performed, the press office said, “The Holy Father reacted well to the surgery, which was conducted under general anaesthesia”.
Dr Sergio Alfieri, a staff surgeon at the Gemelli who specialises in surgery of the digestive tract and colon, led the surgery, assisted by a team of surgeons.
Stenosis is a narrowing of a passage in the human body. The Vatican’s description of the Pope’s condition indicated a partial blockage of the lower intestine. It provided no information about the cause or suspected cause of the blockage nor of the symptoms the Pope had been experiencing.
The Pope has been generally healthy since being elected in March 2013 except for recurrent bouts of sciatica, which causes sharp pain that radiates along the path of the sciatic nerve, which branches from the lower back through the hips and down each leg. In late December and early January, he missed several events because the pain was so intense.