Pope will undergo bowel surgery today after suffering from abdominal pain, Vatican reveals

Pope Francis will undergo surgery this afternoon at a hospital in Rome for a painful abdominal hernia after complaining of abdominal pain, the Vatican has revealed.

The 86-year-old pope will be put under general anesthesia and is expected to remain in hospital for “a few days” to recover.

The pope’s medical team had decided in recent days that the operation was necessary to treat a “recurrent, painful and worsening” narrowing of the bowel.

The procedure comes two years after he had 5 inches of his colon removed due to inflammation and narrowing of the colon.

The pope will undergo his final abdominal wall surgery today after his weekly audience at the Vatican this morning.

He had gone for a 40-minute checkup yesterday at Gemelli Hospital – where he is undergoing surgery – due to concerns about abdominal pain.

Nevertheless, he appeared in good spirits at his audience in St. Peter’s Square on Wednesday morning, whizzing across the square in his popemobile, greeting the faithful with smiles and waves.

He also had two meetings before surgery, the Vatican said.

Sources told La Stampa that after the operation on the colon of Pope Francis two years ago, hernias have developed, which run the risk of blocking the intestine.

The Vatican said the pope will undergo open abdominal surgery that can help a surgeon diagnose and treat problems. Francis retains all his powers as pope, even when he is unconscious.

“The stay at the health center will last several days to allow for a normal postoperative course and full functional recovery,” the Vatican said.

Gemelli Hospital is the favored choice of popes to the point of being dubbed ‘Vatican 3’ by Pope John Paul II, who was treated at Gemelli nine times and spent a total of 153 days there.

In July 2021, Francis spent ten days in Gemelli to remove the 13 inches (33 centimeters) of his colon.

And in January this year, the pope said the diverticulosis, or bulges in his intestinal wall, had returned.

Pope Francis emerged from the 2021 surgery saying he could eat whatever he wanted, but complained that he had not responded well to the general anesthetic used during the longer-than-expected procedure.

That response partially explained his refusal to have surgery to repair strained knee ligaments that have forced him to use a wheelchair and walker for more than a year.

The fact that he’s going back for surgery suggests he had little choice but to treat the gut problem, especially given his rigorous travel schedule this summer.

The pope has been plagued with health problems since childhood, due to the complications of a serious ailment he contracted in his 20s.

When he was 21, he developed pleurisy – the inflammation of the tissue between the lungs and ribcage.

The condition was so severe that he nearly died and doctors were forced to remove several lung cysts and a small portion of his upper right lung, according to Pope biographer Austen Ivereigh.

A lengthy recovery process followed, which affected his voice – he is often heard only whispering.

The pope said he had made a full recovery from pleurisy, but his reduced lung capacity put him at greater risk for chronic respiratory disease.

The Argentine pope also suffers from sciatic nerve pain.

He was hospitalized in March this year with pneumonia after struggling to breathe during his weekly general audience at the Vatican. He emerged on April 1 and said, “Still alive!”

Asked about his health in an interview with US Spanish-language network Telemundo that aired in May, Francis said it was “much better.”

‘I can walk now. My knee is recovering. I could hardly walk beforehand. Now I can. Some days are more painful than others,” the pope said.

Francis added that the doctors caught his respiratory infection just in time.

“If we had waited a few more hours, it would have been much more serious. But I was out of the hospital in four days,” he said.

The Vatican has recently confirmed that it will have a travel-rich August, with a four-day visit to Portugal in the first week of August and an equally long trip to Mongolia starting August 31.

Indicating that tours are still very likely to continue, the Vatican on Tuesday released the planned itinerary for its visit to Portugal for World Youth Day from August 2 to 6.

The itinerary confirms a typically busy schedule with all the protocol meetings of an official state visit, plus multiple youth events and a day trip to the Marian Shrine at Fatima.