The Pope will undergo surgery this Wednesday for an intestinal ailment | International

Pope Francis will undergo surgery this Wednesday at the Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli hospital due to a possible intestinal occlusion that for days has been causing pain and a marked worsening, according to the Vatican press office this morning. It is the third time in less than a year that the Pope has to be admitted to the hospital for several days for some relatively serious ailment.

Francisco went to the same hospital yesterday without prior notice. According to the Vatican, it was a programmed control (the Holy See also expressed itself in this way the last time he had to be admitted urgently due to a respiratory infection). This morning, at the end of the Wednesday general audience, he was taken back to the hospital. “The Holy Father went to the A. Gemelli University Polyclinic, where in the afternoon he will undergo laparotomic surgery with general anesthesia and reconstruction of the abdominal wall with a prosthesis. The operation, agreed upon in previous days by the medical team that assists the Holy Father, became necessary due to an incarcerated eventration that is causing recurrent, painful and worsening subocclusive syndromes," the statement said.

The intervention is the result of some type of hernia that the pontiff could suffer due to poor healing from the operation he underwent less than a year ago and will require Francisco to spend a few days in the hospital. "Hospitalization at the medical institution will last several days to allow normal postoperative recovery and full functional recovery," the statement said. Something that clashes with the agenda he had planned for those days, in which he was expected for different events.

The Pope underwent surgery at this same center for a diverticular stenosis in the colon in July 2021, a surgical intervention that was also previously scheduled. On that occasion, he remained hospitalized for 11 days and a part of his colon was removed, an operation for which he required general anesthesia.

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