The Pope is discharged from hospital nine days after undergoing hernia surgery

Pope Francis was released from the hospital today, nine days after he underwent surgery to repair an abdominal hernia.

Francis, 86, left Rome’s Gemelli hospital in a wheelchair, greeting reporters and supporters at the main entrance as he was led to a waiting car.

Chief surgeon Sergio Alfieri said: ‘The Pope is fine. He is in better shape than before.

Alfieri added that the Pope was well enough to travel. Francis plans trips to Portugal at the beginning of August and to Mongolia at the end of that month. His commitments have been canceled until June 18.

The pope traditionally takes all of July off, with Sunday blessings being his only public appearances, so he’ll have the next month to rest before August trips.

It follows a three-hour operation on June 8 to remove intestinal scar tissue and repair a hernia in his abdominal wall, problems that developed after previous surgeries.

At the time, Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said “the night went well.”

Dr. Sergio Alfieri, director of abdominal and endocrine sciences at the Gemelli hospital in Rome, said the operation was successful and no complications or other pathologies were detected.

Alfieri, who also removed part of Francis’ colon in 2021, told an evening news conference that the pope was awake, alert and even joking after the operation.

‘When are we going to do the third?’ he quoted Francis as saying.

The operation was scheduled after Francis complained of increasing episodes of pain and intestinal obstructions.

After going to Gemelli on June 6 for checkups, Francis was admitted the next day after his general hearing and underwent the procedure shortly thereafter.

During the operation, doctors removed internal adhesions or scars in the intestine that had caused a partial blockage. Alfieri revealed that in addition to the 2021 colon surgery, Francis had undergone previous abdominal surgeries sometime before 2013 in his native Argentina, which had also left him with scars.

To repair the hernia that had formed over a previous scar, a prosthetic mesh was placed in the abdominal wall, Alfieri said. He added that the Pope did not suffer from other pathologies, that the removed tissue was benign and that after he recovers, he should be fine.

Apparently, no dreaded bulge, or bowel bulge, was found through the hernia tear.

“It appears they operated on him in a timely manner without compromising his intestine,” said Dr. Walter Longo, chief of colon and rectal surgery at Yale University School of Medicine, who was not involved in the surgery and commented after consulting to the Vatican Communiqué on the procedure.

Francis remained in charge of the Vatican and the Catholic Church of 1.3 billion people, even while he was unconscious and in the hospital, in accordance with canon law.

In July 2021, Francis spent 10 days at Gemelli to remove 13 inches (33 centimeters) of his large intestine. In an interview with The Associated Press in January, Francis said the diverticulosis, or bulges in the intestinal wall, that caused the surgery had returned.

After that surgery, Francis regretted that he had not responded well to general anesthesia. That reaction partly explains his refusal to have surgery to repair strained knee ligaments that have forced him to use a wheelchair and walker for more than a year.

However, Alfieri said that Francis had no clinically adverse reactions to anesthesia in 2021 or on Wednesday.

“Clearly, nobody likes to be operated on and put to sleep because the moment they put it, we lose consciousness,” he said. “But there was no physiological problem two years ago or today.”

Dr Manish Chand, a professor of surgery at University College London who specializes in colorectal surgery, said the biggest issue going forward will be pain management and making sure the wound heals properly.

“In the first six weeks after this type of surgery, you are at risk of having a recurrence again,” he said. To avoid that, patients are advised not to do anything strenuous.