By Charlotte Webster-
Pope Francis is “in good condition, alert and breathing on his own” a day after he underwent a three-hour operation, which involved removing half his colon, the Vatican said.
Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni also said on Monday that Francis is expected to stay in Rome’s Gemelli Polyclinic, a Catholic hospital, for about seven days “barring complications”.
The brief medical bulletin contained the first details the Vatican released, coming more than 12 hours after the end of Sunday’s surgery.
The procedure was necessitated by what the Holy See said was a diverticular stenosis, or narrowing the pope’s sigmoid portion of the large intestine. Pope Francis is expected to stay in Rome’s Gemelli Polyclinic for a further seven days.
“Admitted in the afternoon to the A. Gemelli Hospital, the Holy Father underwent surgery in the evening for a diverticular stenosis of the colon”.
“The Holy Father”, Bruni explained, “reacted well to the surgery done under general anaesthesia and performed by Prof. Sergio Alfieri, assisted by Prof. Luigi Sofo, Dr. Antonio Tortorelli and Dr. Roberta Megnhi.”
“Anaesthesia was administered by Prof. Massimo Antonelli, Prof. Liliana Sollazzi, Dr. Roberto De Cicco, and Dr. Maurizio Soave. Also present in the operating room were Prof. Giovanni Battista Doglietto and Prof. Roberto Bernabei.”
Pope Francis had left the Casa Santa Marta in the early afternoon.ours “His Holy Father is in good, general condition, alert and breathing spontaneously,” Mr Bruni said in a written statement.
“The operation for the diverticular stenosis, performed during the evening of July 4, involved a left hemicolectomy and lasted for about three hours,” Mr Bruni said.
That procedure entails removing the left side of the colon and attaching the remaining parts of the large intestine. Francis was spending his first morning convalescing in a Rome hospital following the surgery on the left side of his large intestine.
Earlier, an Italian cardinal told reporters he had been informed that Francis was doing OK post-operatively.
“Our prayer and our closeness are very great,” Cardinal Enrico Feroci said at Rome’s airport where he was catching a flight.
The Italian news agency Ansa quoted him as saying that he had heard earlier in the morning from another cardinal, Angelo De Donatis, “and he told me that the pope is well”.