• Italy Pope Francis has already been able to get up and resume his work
  • Pope Francis Concludes Pope Francis' Abdominal Hernia Operation Without Complications

Pope Francis is doing well after the operation for an abdominal hernia he underwent on Wednesday, but he has been advised against making efforts and therefore publicly celebrating the Angelus prayer this Sunday.

"In recent days intravenous treatments have been suspended and fed a semi-liquid diet. He is apyretic (without fever) and hemodynamically stable. His blood tests and postoperative chest X-ray are good," explained Sergio Alfieri, the doctor who operated on him at the Gemelli hospital in Rome.

However, given the need to allow the mesh implanted for the repair of the muscles of the abdomen to heal optimally, doctors have advised him not to make efforts and not appear in public to celebrate the Angelus from the hospital, as he did in his previous hospitalization in July 2021 after the colon operation.

"On the advice of the medical staff and the personal health assistant, and as can be deduced from the normal postoperative recovery times in operations of this type, tomorrow the Pope will pray in private the prayer of the Angelus, uniting himself spiritually, with affection and gratitude, to the faithful who will want to accompany him, wherever they are," the Vatican said in a statement.

Sergio Alfieri, the doctor who operated on Pope Francis.

Alfieri also stressed that "the pope has not had any type of heart problem or suffered any heart attack," Alfieri said when asked by reporters during a press conference at the hospital. From the cardiorespiratory point of view, the pope is doing well, added the doctor, who is responsible for surgery at the Gemelli hospital.

One more week admitted

On how many days he will have to be admitted, Alfieri said at least for the entire next week. "It is a prudent decision to facilitate recovery, but everything proceeds well," he said.

"To make sure that he returns to Santa Marta (his residence) in the best conditions, we would like him to be admitted for a week. Full recovery is three months for everyone. It is very important that you return to work physically strong. But we can suggest it to him, because it is he who decides. We gave him a medical suggestion for Sunday, and he decided," she explained.

Alfieri pointed out that "if you do not pay attention to the healing and tears of the mesh, you will have to take it back to the operating room. If, on the other hand, a careful convalescence is observed, he will not have any discomfort" and clarified that the other time during the hospitalization he prayed the Angelus, "but after seven days and he did not have to rest the abdominal wall".

Although Alfieri said that if the Pope is 86 years old, "his head is like a 60-year-old man," when he decided to have surgery the day after the CT scan he did so because he had planned to travel in August, the doctor explained.

  • Pope Francis I
  • Italy
  • the Vatican

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