Pope Francis will leave hospital on Friday, the Vatican says

Pope Francis will be released from hospital on Friday, nine days after the 86-year-old pope underwent abdominal surgery for a hernia, an unexpected operation that raised concerns about his health, according to the Vatican.

The Vatican described his recovery from the surgery as “normal,” and photos it released showed the pope appearing in good health at the hospital, Policlinico A. Gemelli, in Rome.

On Thursday, Francis met with the hospital’s medical team and administrators “as a sign of gratitude,” the Vatican said in a statement. Using a wheelchair, he also visited young patients in the pediatric cancer and pediatric neurosurgery wards to thank them for the “numerous letters, drawings and messages” they had sent the pope during his stay.

“Pope Francis has experienced firsthand the pain that they and their mothers and fathers feel every day,” Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said in a statement.

Francis was hospitalized on June 7 after holding his weekly general audience. Later that day, surgeons operated on an incisional hernia, which usually occurs as a result of previous surgeries that had become increasingly painful.

It was the second time that Francis had faced a significant health problem during his ten-year papacy. In 2021 he had about 12 inches of his colon removed due to what the Vatican said caused inflammation a narrowing of his colon. This year, in March, he was treated for bronchitis for which he had to be admitted to the Gemelli.

He also has a problem with his right knee and experiences recurrent episodes of sciatica, a nerve condition that causes pain in the back, hips and legs.

Recovery from last week’s surgery usually takes just under a week, but doctors advised Francis to stay in hospital for a few more days due to his age and workload.

Francis started working from his hospital room a few days after surgery. On Thursday, Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin sent a telegram on behalf of the pope to his ambassador to Greece to express Francis’s “deep dismay” at the migrants who drowned off the country’s coast this week and to express to the survivors “God’s gifts of strength, perseverance and hope.”