Pope Francis “responded well” to colon diverticula surgery and will remain hospitalized for five days

Pope Francis, 84, underwent successful surgery today for colon problem at Gemelli Polyclinic Hospital in Rome, where he was admitted this afternoon, the Vatican reported.

“The Pope, hospitalized in the afternoon at the Gemelli polyclinic, underwent a planned surgery overnight for diverticular sigmoid stenosis,” reported the director of the Vatican Press Office, Matteo Bruni. Francisco “reacted well to the operation performed under general anesthesia and produced by Sergio Alfieri, with the help of Luigi Sofo, Antonio Tortorelli and Roberta Menghi ”, he added.

“The anesthesia was directed by Professor Massimo Antonelli, Professor Liliana Sollazzi and Drs Roberto De Cicco and Maurizio Soave. Also present in the operating room were Professor Giovanni Battista Doglietto and Professor Roberto Bernabei, ”the Vatican spokesperson also explained.

The Pope will be hospitalized for 5 days.

It is believed that the non-invasive laparoscopic technique was used for surgery.

The picture officially announced by Francisco is that of “symptomatic diverticular stenosis of the colon”, and according to digestive system experts, the goal of this type of surgery is to reduce problems caused by diverticula, which are small hernias in the wall of the colon with a broad spectrum of clinical manifestations including haemorrhages, potentially painful inflammation (diverticulitis) or associated complications (obstruction or perforation).

Colonic diverticulosis is very common in Western society and affects nearly 65% ​​of the population at age 85, according to the same sources.

As detailed by the Corriere della Sera, the Pope arrived at Gemelli in his car, which he discreetly left at the entrance to the hospital. He was accompanied by a very small entourage: only the driver and a close collaborator of Francisco. At that time, none of the normal inmates at Gemelli Hospital realized that something special was going on. Nobody – except the doctors directly concerned – was aware of the intervention, within the Polyclinic.

The doctors of Gemelli had to operate on potatoes in the past: Pope John Paul II, for example, had a benign tumor removed from his colon in 1992. Indeed, today, Pope Francis has stayed in rooms on the 10th floor which housed Wojtyla.

The President of the Italian Republic, Sergio Mattarella, sent him a message for his immediate recovery: “The affectionate thoughts of all Italians, of whom I am the interpreter and of which one of my staff, accompanies His Holiness in these hours, in accompanied by the warmest wishes for a good convalescence and a speedy and better recovery “

The Pope is considered a patient at risk, given the fact that at age 21, in 1957, he suffered from acute pleurisy and surgeons had to partially remove his right lung, according to his biographer Austen Ivereigh.

During the first confinement in Italy, Francis was isolated in his library on Sunday for the Angelus prayer, but then appeared frequently but briefly to a window to greet an almost empty St. Peter’s Square. He was vaccinated against COVID in January and February.

In Argentinian journalist Nelson Castro’s book “The Health of the Popes”, published earlier this year, the Pope already had some additional information about his medical history, such as a “serious lung image” in 1957 and the anxious neurosis he suffers, but nothing from the colon.

The doctor who operated on the Pope, Alfieri, is Roman and is 55 years old. He attended the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery of the Catholic University of Rome from 1986 to 1992, when he obtained a 110 out of 110. Five years later he specialized in general surgery. In 2018, he became ordinary professor of general surgery and is currently head of the digestive surgery department at the Gemelli polyclinic, as well as coordinator of the colon-rectum and pancreas surgery centers.

Francisco’s surgeon has performed over 9,000 operations to date. He comes from the direct line and the school of surgeons close to the popes. In fact, Alfieri was a pupil of the surgeon Giovanni Battista Doglietto, who in turn was part of the team of Francesco Crucitti, who went down in history as the surgeon of John Paul II for having operated on him three times.

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