Dr. Sergio Alfieri (left), Pope Francis’ surgeon, and Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruno hold a press conference Saturday, June 10, 2023, at Gemelli Hospital in Rome. / Credit: Vatican Media
Rome Newsroom, Jun 12, 2023 / 10:15 am (CNA).
The Vatican said Monday that Pope Francis is working from the hospital as he recovers from hernia surgery.
Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni told journalists on June 12 that Pope Francis’ “postoperative progress continues to be normal” five days after the pope underwent a three-hour surgery for an incisional hernia.
Bruni added that the pope is eating regularly, has received the Eucharist daily, and has begun working from the hospital.
On Sunday, the pope watched Sunday Mass on television and received the Eucharist in his hospital room before praying the Angelus in the chapel in the papal medical suite and eating lunch with some hospital staff.
The 86-year-old pope is expected to remain recovering in Rome’s Gemelli hospital for the next week. The Vatican has canceled all of the pope’s audiences until June 18.
While working from the hospital, Pope Francis sent a message to the European People’s Party, the largest political party in the European Parliament, and sent a condolence telegram to the family of former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who died on Monday, June 12.
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Pope Francis left Rome’s Gemelli Hospital shortly before 9:00 a.m. on June 16, 2023. Before returning to the Vatican, he stopped to pray in front of the historic Marian icon of Salus Populi Romani at St. Mary Major Basilica, and made a quick visit to a group of religious sisters close to St. Peter’s Square. / Vatican Media.
Rome Newsroom, Jun 16, 2023 / 03:10 am (CNA).
Pope Francis was discharged from Rome’s Gemelli Hospital to a round of applause on Friday, after an eight-day stay following abdominal surgery.
He greeted hospital staff and other patients as he left the hospital in a wheelchair June 16. Outside the building, the pope was asked how he was doing by media, to whom he said, “I’m still alive!”
After Francis left in his white Fiat 500, surgeon Dr. Sergio Alfieri told reporters, “The pope is well. He’s better than before,” according to the Associated Press.
According to the Vatican, Pope Francis will lead the Angelus on Sunday as usual and other audiences for the upcoming days will take place.
The pope’s Wednesday morning audience with the public in St. Peter’s Square on June 21 has been canceled, instead, “to safeguard the Holy Father’s postoperative recovery.”
Pope Francis stopped for a moment of prayer before the historic Marian icon of Salus Populi Romani at St. Mary Major Basilica after being discharged from Rome’s Gemelli Hospital on the morning of June 16, 2023. Vatican Media.
Before returning to the Vatican on Friday, Francis stopped to pray in front of the Salus Populi Romani Marian icon.
The historic icon is kept in a chapel in the Basilica of St. Mary Major. Pope Francis has also stopped there after previous hospitalizations and visits the icon before and after every international trip.
Pope Francis waves to other patients as he leaves Rome’s Gemelli Hospital shortly before 9:00 a.m. on June 16, 2023. Before returning to the Vatican, he stopped to pray in front of the historic Marian icon of Salus Populi Romani at St. Mary Major Basilica, and made a quick visit to a group of religious sisters close to St. Peter’s Square. Vatican Media.
On his approach to the Vatican, he made a quick private visit to a group of religious sisters who run a guesthouse next to St. Peter’s Square.
The Italian Istituto Santissima Maria Bambina (“Institute of the Most Holy Child Mary”) is currently holding its general chapter meeting in Rome.
The pope also thanked the law enforcement who guard the entrance to the Vatican.
Pope Francis left Rome’s Gemelli Hospital shortly before 9:00 a.m. on June 16, 2023. Before returning to the Vatican, he stopped to pray in front of the historic Marian icon of Salus Populi Romani at St. Mary Major Basilica, and made a quick visit to a group of religious sisters close to St. Peter’s Square. Vatican Media.
According to daily updates from the Vatican, the 86-year-old Pope Francis has been recovering normally after undergoing a three-hour surgery to repair an incisional hernia on June 7.
A team of surgeons removed scar tissue and operated on a hernia in the pope’s abdominal wall at the site of a previous surgical incision.
The June 7-16 stay was Pope Francis’ third hospitalization in the past two years.
He was hospitalized for four days in March for a lung infection and had part of his large intestine removed in July 2021 due to diverticulitis.
His Holiness Pope Francis is a tireless worker. May God grant Francis strength and stamina to carry forward the Petrine ministry.