Pope Francis has been discharged from the Gemelli Polyclinic where he had abdominal surgery nine days earlier to repair a hernia and remove painful scarring.
Francis, 86, left through the hospital’s main exit in a wheelchair, smiling, waving and saying “thanks” to a crowd of well-wishers, then stood up so he could get into the small Vatican car awaiting him.
When a reporter asked how he was, the Pontiff remarked, “Still alive.″
Dr. Sergio Alfieri, the Surgeon who performed the three-hour operation on June 7, 2023 told reporters, “The pope is well. He’s better than before.″
The Pope’s medical staff disclosed that no complications occurred during the surgery or while the Pope was recuperating in the hospital’s 10th-floor apartment reserved exclusively for hospitalization of pontiffs.
Instead of going straight back to the Vatican, Pope Francis stopped to pray for 10 minutes before an icon of the Virgin Mary at the famous St. Mary Major Basilica, where he often stops by after trips abroad to give thanks. Francis stayed in his wheelchair as he prayed. He also went there after his discharge from the same hospital following his treatment for bronchitis.
Also, before he arrived back home, Francis made two more stops; first at a convent adjacent to the Vatican to greet nuns, and then outside one of the walled city’s gates to get out of his car so he could shake hands with and thank police officers who provided a motorcycle escort.
Right after the Pontiff returned home, the Vatican press office announced that Francis would make his traditional Sunday noon appearance at an Apostolic window overlooking St. Peter’s Square to greet the public, an appointment that lasts about 10 minutes.
However, his customary Wednesday general audience with thousands of faithful in the square “has been canceled to safeguard the post-surgical recovery of the Holy Father.″ The general audience lasts about an hour and includes a speech by the Pope.
Pope Expected To Be Strong Enough For Trip To Portugal
Sergio Alfieri has said that the Pontiff, in choosing to have the surgery in June, made his calculations that he would bounce back in time for the trip to Portugal in August. “He has confirmed all” his trips, the surgeon said.
Referring to the scarring, known medically as adhesions which had resulted from the Pontiff’s previous abdominal surgeries, the surgeon said, “Actually, he’ll be able to tackle them better than before, because now he won’t have the discomfort he had.″ He had said that if the Pope had not had the surgery, there would have been a risk of an intestinal blockage.
“He’ll be a stronger Pope,″ the surgeon added.
Francis had been admitted to the Gemelli Polyclinic three times in less than two years. He underwent surgery in July 2021 to have a 33-centimeter (13-inch) piece of his colon removed due to intestinal constriction. Alfieri claimed that this, along with stomach operations years earlier in his native Argentina before he was elected pontiff, had led to the excruciating scarring.
Then in early spring of this year, Francis was back in the hospital to receive intravenous antibiotic treatment for bronchitis, an illness Francis later said caused him pain and fever.
The latest hospitalization came just as Francis seemed to be walking better, with the aid of a cane, following months of often using a wheelchair because of a painful knee problem. He also has suffered from sciatica, a painful inflammation of a nerve that runs down from back to leg.
