Pope Francis is doing well following intestinal surgery, the Vatican said on Sunday after he was hospitalised for the first time since his election in 2013.
Spokesman Matteo Bruni said in a statement that the 84 years old pontiff “responded well” to the surgery, which was done under general anaesthesia and which the Vatican had said earlier had been scheduled and not prompted by an emergency.
In an earlier statement, the Vatican said Pope Francis was being treated at the Gemelli University Hospital for “symptomatic diverticular stenosis” of the colon.
Diverticular disease is a condition that involves bulges in the wall of the large intestine. This can lead to a narrowing, of the colon.
Symptoms include bloating, recurrent abdominal pain and changes in bowel habits.
Francis underwent surgery for symptomatic diverticular stenosis of the colon, a condition where sac-like pouches protrude from the muscular layer of the colon, leading it to become narrow. The operation was carried out by a 10-person medical team.
In addition to causing pain, the condition can lead to bloating, inflammation, and difficulty in bowel movement. It tends to affect older people more.
The pope appeared to be in fine health several hours earlier when he addressed thousands of people in St. Peter’s Square for his Sunday blessing and announced a trip to Slovakia and Budapest for September.
The sprawling Catholic-run Gemelli hospital and medical school in the northern part of Rome traditionally treats popes and a part of its 10th floor is permanently reserved for them.
The surgery appeared to be timed to coincide with a period in which he has only one public commitment – his Sunday blessing in St. Peter’s Square.
Unlike his predecessors, he stays in the Vatican and has never used the sprawling papal summer estate in the Alban Hills south of Rome.
Francis is sometimes short of breath because a part of one of his lungs was removed following an illness when he was a young man in his native Argentina.
He also suffers from sciatica, which causes pain that radiates from the lower back along the sciatic nerve to the legs.
The condition, for which he receives regular physiotherapy, forced him to miss several events at the beginning of this year and has led him on occasions to walk with difficulty.
In 2014, a year after he was elected pope, Francis was forced to cancel several engagements because of what was believed to be a stomach ailment.
