The pontiff went to hospital on Wednesday to undergo bowel surgery, two years after 33 centimeters of his colon was removed due to inflammation and narrowing of the large intestine.
The Vatican said Francis, 86, would be put under general anesthesia and hospitalized at Rome’s Gemelli hospital for several days.
The Pope is undergoing what the Vatican said was a “laparotomy and plastic surgery of the abdominal wall with prostheses” to treat a “recurring, painful and worsening” constriction of the bowel.
Laparotomy is open abdominal surgery. It can help a surgeon diagnose and treat problems. The statement said Francis suffered from a blocked laparocele, which is a hernia that formed over a previous scar.
“The stay in the health establishment will last several days to allow for the normal postoperative course and full functional recovery,” the statement said. An update was not expected until after the procedure.
Francis remains in charge of the Vatican and the 1.3 billion-strong Catholic Church, even while he is unconscious and in the hospital.
The Argentine pope had part of a lung removed when he was young. He also suffers from sciatic nerve pain.
Francis said in January that the diverticulosis, or bulge in the intestinal wall, that had caused the 2021 surgery had returned.
Also, at the end of March, Francis spent three days at Gemelli for an acute case of bronchitis, during which he was treated with intravenous antibiotics. He emerged on April 1 saying “He’s still alive!”
The 86-year-old man had appeared in good form on Wednesday morning at his audience in Saint Peter’s Square, going around the square in his popemobile greeting the faithful. He also had two meetings earlier, the Vatican said.
