Pope Francis will have surgery on his belly and remain in a Rome hospital for many days, the Vatican said on Wednesday in the latest health concern for the 86-year-old pope.
The pope was obliged to cancel many business engagements in late May when he was incapacitated by a fever, and he was hospitalized in March for bronchitis but responded well to medication.
Leaving hospital on that occasion, Francis remarked that he’s “still alive.”
Technically called a laparotomy, Wednesday’s procedure involves general anesthesia and is intended to repair a hernia that the Vatican said is causing “recurrent, painful and worsening” symptoms.
According to medical sources, the intervention is likely related to the surgery Francis experienced in 2021 to remove half of his colon.
The Vatican spokesman, Matteo Bruni, added the pope is expected to make a “full functional recovery.”
In addition to his colon surgery two years ago, Francis had part of one lung removed after a severe bout of pneumonia as a young man. More recently, in 2019, he underwent ocular surgery at Rome’s Clinic of Pius XI to treat a cataract. He has also struggled with chronic sciatica pain.
Over the past year, he experienced knee troubles that have largely confined him to the use of a cane or a wheelchair.
Should Francis be incapacitated for any length of time, the Vatican could find itself facing something of a constitutional crisis. There is no “vice pope” in the Catholic system, meaning someone who can exercise the pope’s authority in his absence.
The Vatican’s secretary of state, currently Italian Cardinal Pietro Parolin, can oversee routine day-to-day management, but he has no authority, for example, to appoint bishops or to create or suppress dioceses around the world.
In an interview with Spanish daily ABC in December, Francis said he had already prepared a letter of resignation in the case of permanent medical incapacity shortly after his election in 2013.