Pope Francis spent the night well after surgery he underwent Wednesday at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital for an abdominal hernia.
The operation went without problems and the pope will have to stay in hospital for several days.
The Vatican reported on Thursday that the night “went well” and that a new medical bulletin will be sent during the day, after the doctor who operated on him, Sergio Alfieri, informed him that the operation went well, that Francis was awake and that he even made several jokes.
Italian doctors also reported from the hospital that the night was “quiet” for the pope.
Pope Francis’ recurring health problems require the Vatican’s communications to be “as transparent as possible to avoid uncontrolled rumours,” Francesco Peloso, a Vatican expert with Italian newspaper Domani, told Lusa.
The first news about the pope’s hospitalization was released by the Vatican’s press office, which was not shy about talking about “laparotomy and plastic surgery of the abdominal wall” to which Francis was subjected on Wednesday.
“Using technical language is a way to demobilize all these rumours, these inferences that have always existed in Vatican history around a pope’s health, when he gets very old and his health begins to weaken,” said Francesco Peloso. .
While Francis is in the room reserved for popes at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital, Peloso recalled that it was the pope himself who repeatedly publicly reported when he had a checkup or surgery.
“If things don’t go well for the pope, the usual hassle about succession naturally starts with questions about his real ability to continue doing his job,” Peloso added.
It was the Pope himself who spoke of the possibility of resigning, most recently last March, when, in response to questions on Swiss TV, he said he would feel obliged to resign because of “an exhaustion that one cannot see things”. clear, a lack of clarity, to know how to evaluate situations”.
In that interview, the pope also spoke about physical problems: “I always ask about it and I follow the advice. How are you? Do you think I should?…I ask people who know me, even some intelligent cardinals. And they tell me the truth: go ahead, everything is fine,” he said.
The pope’s life was not lacking in health problems, such as the lung surgery he underwent at a young age.
There was also recurrent sciatica and, a few years ago, cataract surgery. [olhos]. In addition, the pope has been battling knee pain for about a year, requiring him to use a wheelchair or a cane.
Last year, the pope had to give up some audiences (times set aside for pilgrims and visitors to listen to the pope and receive his blessing), once due to fever, others due to fatigue and general health problems.
As for the trips, he only canceled one that he felt was important. In July last year a visit to Congo and South Sudan was on the agenda and due to knee problems this was postponed last February.
“Accept the doctors’ request and do not frustrate the results of ongoing knee treatments,” the director of the Holy See’s Press Office wrote at the time, justifying the advance.
The issue of dismissal has come up in the debate several times over the past year. It was also spoken at the time when Pope Benedict XVI died. “On that occasion, there were also those who thought, since the pope emeritus is no longer with us, that Francis could resign.
The operation that the pope underwent on Wednesday follows the operation that Bergoglio performed on his colon two years ago, in July 2021.
At that time, he returned to the Vatican after a 10-day hospitalization, from July 4 to 14. It was operated on by surgeon Sergio Alfieri, the same who now performs a laparotomy and plastic surgery on the abdominal wall.
Source: DN
