■ Pope Francis was hospitalized, but is doing well after a planned intestinal surgery.
84-year-old Francis suffers from common intestinal condition
VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis was hospitalized in Rome on Sunday afternoon for scheduled surgery on his large intestine, the Vatican said. The news came just three hours after Francis had cheerfully greeted the public in St. Peter’s Square and told them he will go to Hungary and Slovakia in September.
It was the pope’s first known hospitalization since he was elected to the papacy in 2013.
Francis “reacted well” to the surgery, the Vatican said Sunday evening, without giving much detail about the pontiff ’s condition.
The 84-year-old Francis had general anesthesia during the surgery necessitated by a narrowing of the large intestine, the Vatican’s statement said.
The Vatican said the 84-year-old pope had been diagnosed with “symptomatic diverticular stenosis of the colon.” The surgery was to be performed by Dr. Sergio Alfieri, the director of Gemelli’s digestive surgery department.
A week earlier, Francis had used his same Sunday appearance to ask the public for special prayers for himself, which may have been related to the planned surgery.
“I ask you to pray for the pope, pray in a special way,” Francis had asked the faithful in the square on June 27. “The pope needs your prayers,” he said, adding his thanks and saying “I know you will do that.”
A diverticulum is a pouch-like protrusion through the muscular wall of the intestine.
When diverticula become inflamed — a common condition, especially in older people — part of the intestine can sometimes narrow and surgery might be required, according to gastroenterologists. Such surgery can be performed under general anesthesia, possibly with a laparoscopic intervention. Sometimes a re-sectioning of the affected part of the intestine is needed.
Francis is in generally good health, but he did have part of one lung removed as a young man. He also suffers from sciatica, in which a nerve affects the lower back and leg, a painful condition that has forced him at times to skip scheduled appearances.
A 10th-floor papal suite is kept available at the hospital in case of need.
While Church law provides for a prelate to take over the administration of the Roman Catholic Church if a pope dies, there is no known provision for a delegation of powers if a pope is temporarily incapacitated, as while under anesthesia.
Gemelli doctors have performed surgery before on popes, notably Pope John Paul II, who had what the Vatican said was a benign tumor in his colon removed in 1992.