The health of the Pope: information and speculation | Francisco operated

sunday 4 july Vatican official spokesperson Matteo Bruni, surprised the world by announcing in a statement that Pope Francis had been admitted to the Policlinico Gemelli from Rome to undergo a “scheduled procedure” for “severe diverticular stenosis with signs of sclerosing diverticulitis”. 84-year-old Jorge Bergoglio’s operation required total anesthesia and all subsequent official reports speak of a favorable development in the pontiff’s health. The few publicly mentioned details point to Francisco’s mild feverish state after the operation and also explain the negative results of a chest-abdomen computed tomography (CT) scan and other additional studies conducted to rule out cancer.

During the week Bruni has repeatedly said that the postoperative course is good and positive and only commented that Francisco has started to eat lightly, moves from chair to bed, gets up and walks with the help of two nurses. The only one who gives information on the subject is the official spokesperson. Neither the hospital center, nor Doctor Sergio Alfieri, who commanded the team, nor any of the professionals who participated in the operation said a word. The official information speaks of a normal recovery for a man of his age, in spite of which, the rumors and speculations concerning the health of the pontiff did not cease circulating, without the Vatican paying them more attention or having come to them. deny. .

As is the tradition in the Vatican, on this occasion as in previous pontificates, the health of the potatoes is a matter of state over which the greatest care is taken and the greatest reserve is kept. But if this is the usual practice in Rome with regard to papal health, in the case of Francis it acquires even more importance due to the style of Bergoglio. Being Cardinal Archbishop of Buenos Aires, the current Pope has always kept the reserve on his private life and this decision persists, even with more emphasis, since he settled in the Holy See. The Pope, say his closest friends, totally rejects the idea that his hospitalization becomes a “spectacle” for the public all over the world. For this reason – they add – the surgery was not announced before while it was “scheduled”.

A few minutes before being transferred to the Gemelli polyclinic where he intervened, Francisco had delivered the Sunday Angelus and at the time the only announcement he had made was that of his next trip in September to Budapest and Slovakia. . Not a word about the operation he will undergo a few hours later. As soon as he finished, a car drove him to the medical center where he was operated on.

It was the second time in his life that Bergoglio had received general anesthesia. The first happened in Buenos Aires 65 years ago for right lung surgery. Francisco – according to what people say in his environment – does not have serious health problems. He suffers from pain typical of his age, he suffers from sciatica and he had surgery two years ago for a sighted cataract. The one that occurred this week is Francisco’s first hospitalization since on March 13, 2013, he assumed the highest authority in the Catholic Church.. It was sciatica that forced him on several occasions in the last months of the previous year and at the beginning of this year to be replaced by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re or by the Secretary of State, Pietro Parolin, when of certain celebrations in St. Peter’s Basilica which they are usually chaired by the Pontiff.

In general, the health of the pope is not a matter of concern, although some cautioned against Bergoglio’s busy schedule and also the physical demands of travel. Francis only alluded to his “fatigue” in dialogue with journalists on the flight back to Rome after his recent visit to Iraq.

Despite Francisco’s claim to keep the utmost reserve as to the operation to which he was subjected, in addition to the speculations launched by the media and journalists, there has also been a cataract of reactions ranging from the episcopal conferences of the around the world to thousands of devotees who demonstrated by sending messages and adding prayers for the health of Bergoglio. The Pope responded with a short text sent via social networks saying that “” I am moved by the messages and the love received in recent days. I thank you all for your closeness ”.