The Pope reappeared with the prayer of the Angelus at Gemelli hospital and demanded free access to care for all

A little thinner and showing to have passed the test of the operation in which a meter of intestine was taken, but also with a certain fragility which shows that he is not fully recovered, Pope Francis reappeared this Sunday (at seven in the morning in Argentina) on a balcony on the tenth floor of the Gemelli hospital, where he was operated on a long time ago. week to recite the Sunday Angelus and to thank everyone they took care of him.

Francisco, who spoke a little less than ten minutes, was accompanied on the balcony by a group of pediatric children with cancer at the polyclinic of the Catholic University of Rome. In his first public appearance, he called for the maintenance of a quality health system, free and accessible to all, in Italy and elsewhere.

“In these days of hospitalization, I saw how important a good health care system accessible to all is. We cannot lose this precious possession. We have to keep it! “, did he declare.

The Pope, operated on last Sunday, has recovered well. He ate lightly for four days and was expected to report the discharge and the return to the Vatican for this Monday 12.

But a Vatican from RAI, the Italian radio and television station, said doctors would likely wait “three or four days” before allowing him to return to the Casa de Santa Marte, the Vatican internal hotel where he stays.

The Pope has already started to examine certain documents, but the doctors insistently ask him to recover with a lot of “peace and rest”. On Wednesday afternoon, he had a few tenths of a fever, which passed within hours.

Jorge Bergoglio is located in the tenth floor sector of the hospital reserved for the pontiffs, which was used a dozen times by John Paul II for a long time.

For two days, the Bishop of Rome has been short walks in a long hallway. At the end of this hallway is the balcony from which he addressed today the throng of worshipers, patients and health workers who repeatedly cheered and applauded him, praying with him as he prayed. Angelus.

The huge building overlooks the central campus of the polyclinic in the center of which is the statue of Saint John Paul II.

Before praying to the Angelus, the Pope reviewed the Gospel quote to the anointing of the sick by Jesus, which was worth talking about from his own experience in the days of convalescence.

After reciting the Angelus, the Pope spoke of the dramatic events in Haiti, where a group of mercenaries stormed the presidential palace and assassinated the President of the Republic. He predicted that this country can recover from what happened.

After also referring to the celebration of Sea Sunday today and asking that “no one throw plastic in the sea”, Bergoglio wished “a good Sunday and a good lunch to all”, to end by asking the faithful as always: “Pray for me.”

It all started a week ago, on Sunday July 4, when Francis went in the afternoon, after praying to the Angelus of the Apostolic Palace to the gathered crowd in St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican, at the Gemelli hospital. The very brief announcement indicated that a scheduled surgery was to be performed. The Pope arrived accompanied by only two people, although inside the gigantic polyclinic of the Catholic University there is already a group of members of the Pontifical Gendarmerie responsible for guarding it.

Jorge Bergoglio prepared in the tenth floor area reserved for pontiffs. He was assisted by two very expert nurses from the Vatican Health Service who were with him all week.

No doctor has opened his mouth all week. Daily official communications came from the Vatican press room. There were no medical bulletins. The versions released were unofficial. Hopefully, it was said in the gardens in front of the central plaza of the Gemelli campus, that the operation could take an hour or even less, and that three or four days later the Argentine Pope would return to the Vatican.

As the late evening turned to the typical summer night, slight concerns began. A Vatican statement finally announced that the Pope had been operated for three hours for diverticular sianosis (restriction or blockage) and that he had undergone a left hemicolectomy, the removal of the left part of the colon where the small hernias, pouches, exposed. , which form mainly in the elderly, in the intestinal walls. Diverticula, which become infected and when there is no other remedy, they must be operated on.

No one said it officially, but it is assumed that the Pope had a meter of intestine cut off and surgeons then connected the healthy colon to the anus with a suture.

The operation, mainly performed by surgeon Sergio Alfieri in an operating room populated by digestive specialists and half a dozen leading anesthetists, was to be performed with the laparoscopic technique. Small holes are made in the abdomen and tubes penetrate them which are used to manipulate instruments from a distance. It is a very proven technique, ideal for elderly patients and the Pope will be 85 in December. It reduces the times of the operation and the anesthesia.

It is still envisioned that laparoscopy cannot be used for unforeseen reasons and cirums immediately switch to the traditional “open” operation, opening the patient’s abdomen through scalpel incisions.

In an interview with “Corriere della Sera” with a seasoned specialist, Professor Francesco Corcione, the hypothesis that emerged was that of visceral adhesions. The surgeons were unable to insert the laparoscopic tubes because the patient’s abdomen had scars from a previous operation.

The postoperative period was normal and the Pope showed a resistant fiber. Histological examination showed that the diverticulum stenosis was severe and there were signs of sclerosing diverticulitis.

The Catholic site “Il Sismografo”, widely consulted in Vatican circles, published a note (which “Clarín” translated in full for its readers) in which with a tone controversial towards the “courteous” press which showed the Pope “as a superman “damage his image and his charisma, he declared that” the disease which punished the Holy Father is severe and degenerative. The Pope will no longer be the same ”.

The histological examination (of the tissues) confirmed that on the one hand no tumor mass was found and on the other hand that the disease was very serious and could be chronic. The intervention was not devastating. The director of “Il Seismólogo”, Luis Badilla, said “this is very good news”.

But he adds that “the adult and mature faithful understand with color that Pope Francis will live the life that God will give him with many physiological and also metabolic limits. It will have to be followed continuously with important clinical checks and other brief hospitalizations can be hypothetical ”.

“The Pope must take careful care of his health and he knows that he will have to change, with the help of everyone, a lot of his life: fatigue, limits of rest, diet, physical rehabilitation exercises.