Pope Francis' post-operative course at the Gemelli Polyclinic continues positively, after the bowel surgery he underwent yesterday afternoon by the team led by Sergio Alfieri, which lasted three hours under general anesthesia, but "without complications". "His Holiness Pope Francis spent a day of rest," Vatican Press Office Director Matteo Bruni said this evening. The medical staff "informs that he is fed a water diet. Hemodynamic and respiratory parameters are stable. The post-operative course is regular".
This afternoon, the Solemnity of Corpus Christi, the Pope "received the Eucharist". And among the many messages of closeness he was struck by the affection of the family of little Miguel Angel, baptized by Pope Francis last March 31 during his visit to the pediatric oncology and child neurosurgery departments of the hospital, who sent him a poster of wishes for a speedy recovery. "Recover ready" (heal quickly) is written in Spanish.
"The Holy Father wanted to personally thank the mother with a short phone call," added the Holy See spokesman.
The night passed well, quietly, for the Pontiff, who managed "to rest in a prolonged way". And today the medical staff has made it known that Francis "is in good general condition, alert and breathing spontaneously". In addition, "routine follow-up exams are good." A comforting situation that of the 86-year-old Argentine Pontiff, already operated two years ago on the colon always at the Gemelli and always by Professor Alfieri, and who since then repeated that he would no longer want to undergo a general anesthesia.
Which instead happened, without particular difficulties and with a brilliant outcome. The surgery was necessary for an "incarcele laparocele" at the scar of previous laparotomic surgical operations carried out in past years. This laparocele had caused the Holy Father, for some months, "a painful intestinal subocclusive syndrome worsening". However, Francesco reacted so well to the surgery that last night, immediately after waking up from anesthesia, he even made jokes with Prof. Alfieri. "When do we do the third?" she asked. Something that has aroused, among the many attestations of closeness on social media, also a comment like that of Father Antonio Spadaro, a person very close to Bergoglio: "Yes, it has a strong fiber. But above all great faith and... a great sense of humor. Always and in spite of everything".
ANSA.it
Sergio Alfieri, the surgeon who operated on the Pope, is the second time - Health & Wellness
The first in July 2021. From the school of the surgeons of the pontiffs (ANSA)
The Pontiff's Day, therefore, today was dedicated entirely to post-operative rest. But already in the coming days Francis will not fail to approach again, even from his hospital bed, the practices and tasks that await him. The audiences are suspended until Sunday, June 18, but otherwise there is no temporary transfer of power, Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin confirmed to journalists yesterday, explaining that as soon as possible the Pope, "even if from a hospital bed, will resume the exercise of the ministry. So if there are things that need to be decided, urgent, they will take him to the Gemelli hospital."
It will be seen first of all if this Sunday Francis will be able to hold the Angelus from the tenth floor of the University Hospital, where the papal apartment is located, as already happened during the previous hospitalization in July 2021. The agenda of the coming days and weeks will be occupied mainly by consultations with Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, who has just returned from the mission to Kiev, and by decisions on his possible departure also for Moscow. In the background, even if the frequency of commitments will thin out especially in July, thus also allowing adequate convalescence, there are trips such as the one for WYD in Lisbon from 2 to 6 August, and the one in Mongolia from 31 August to 4 September. Then also the October Synod of Bishops on synodality. The Pope's full rest, also given his activism and his well-known desire not to spare himself, does not seem destined to continue for long
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