Pope Francis discharged from hospital: Following a successful abdominal surgery, Pope Francis was released on Friday from the hospital in Rome where he had been admitted nine days earlier for a hernia operation and removal of a painful scar. Speaking to the media, the hospital’s surgeon said that the Pope is now “better than ever” from being admitted to the hospital.
The 86-year-old pope walked through the main exit of the Gemelli Polyclinic in a wheelchair, smiling, waving and saying “thank you” to the crowd of well-wishers, then stood up to walk into a waiting mini-Vatican car. A short distance before reaching the white Fiat 500, reporters practically threw microphones in his face, and the pontiff good-naturedly waved them away.
‘Pope is better than ever’
“The Pope is fine. He is better than ever. After the operation, Francis will be a ‘strong Pope’, surgeon Dr Sergio Alfieri, who performed the three-hour operation, told reporters.
A few hours after the surgery, Alfieri said that scarring resulting from previous abdominal surgery was causing the papillary pain. According to doctors, there was also a risk of intestinal blockage if the adhesions, or scar tissue, were not removed.
According to the Pope’s medical staff, there were no complications during the surgery or during the pontiff’s hospitalization specifically in Pope Gemelli’s 10th-floor apartment.
Pope’s visits canceled till June 18
Right after the surgery, the Vatican said all papal audiences would be canceled until June 18. Francis’ high-profile appointments at the Vatican next week include audiences with the presidents of Cuba and Brazil, though the meetings are reserved. It has not yet been officially announced by the Vatican.
Within just two years, Francis was hospitalized three times at the Gemelli Polyclinic. In July 2021, he had surgery to remove a 33-centimetre (13-inch) section of his intestine because of a narrowing of his intestine. According to Alfieri, abdominal surgery years earlier in his native Argentina before becoming pope contributed to the painful scars as well. Then in the early spring of this year, Francis was back in the hospital receiving intravenous antibiotic treatment for bronchitis, an illness Francis later said caused him pain and fever.
As a young man in his native Argentina, Francis had a portion of one of his lungs removed after an infection. The latest hospitalization came just as Francis was walking better with the aid of a cane, after months of frequently using a wheelchair due to knee problems. She also suffers from sciatica, a painful inflammation of a nerve that runs from the back to the leg.
(with AP inputs)