Pope Francis has responded well after a planned intestinal surgery at a Rome hospital, Vatican said on Sunday.
Gatekeepers News reports that a Holy See spokesman, Matteo Bruni said the 84-year-old Pontiff had general anesthesia during the surgery necessitated by a narrowing of the large intestine.
“The Holy Father, admitted in the afternoon to A. Gemelli Polyclinic, underwent in the evening planned surgery for a diverticular stenosis of the sigmoid portion of the colon, Bruni said in the brief written statement.
“The Holy Father reacted well to the surgery conducted under general anesthesia,” the spokesman said, noting there was a four-person surgical team, plus a four-person anesthesiologist team.
Gatekeepers News gathered that the main surgeon was Dr. Sergio Alfieri, the director of Gemelli’s digestive surgery department.
Among those present in the operating room was the official papal physician, whom Francis tapped earlier this year. The pope’s previous physician had contracted COVID-19 and died at Gemelli while hospitalized for cancer treatment.
Bruni, however, did not give further detail on how long the surgery lasted, nor for how long the pope was unconscious under anaesthesia.
It is also not clear how long the Pope would stay in Rome’s Agostino Gemelli Polyclinic, a Catholic hospital.
