Catholic Church
Pope Francis leaves clinic: “I’m still alive”
Enjoying the swim in the crowd: Pope Francis. photo
© Alessandra Tarantino/AP/dpa
After almost a week and a half, Pope Francis leaves the hospital. He looks relieved and recovered. His doctor says the pontiff is even stronger after the surgery than before.
Pope Francis is back in the Vatican after an abdominal operation and almost a week and a half in the hospital. The 86-year-old, to the applause of many passers-by and believers, left the Gemelli Clinic in Rome, where he had undergone surgery nine days earlier for an imminent intestinal obstruction.
The head of the Catholic Church was wheeled to his small white car, which then took him away. “I’m still alive,” joked the Argentine. He seemed relaxed and relieved.
He then drove to the papal basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore for prayer. Francis had already gone there after his two previous stays in the clinic – in 2021 after an intestinal operation and most recently in April after pneumonia. Before and after the Pope’s trips, he always comes to Santa Maria Maggiore for prayer.
The Pope’s next trips abroad are planned for World Youth Day in Lisbon at the beginning of August and Mongolia at the end of August. He can now do these trips “even better than before, because the problems he had before are gone,” said his surgeon Sergio Alfieri.
The doctor explained that the intervention – a so-called laparotomy to treat a hernia in the abdomen – reduces the pain that had been plaguing Francis more and more recently. “He will now become a stronger Pope”.
General audience next Wednesday canceled
After returning to his apartment in the Santa Marta guest house, the recently canceled private audiences are resumed. On Sunday, Francis is scheduled to repeat the Angelus prayer in front of the faithful in St. Peter’s Square. Last Sunday he had not prayed the prayer to the Virgin Mary publicly for the first time in the pontificate. Because of the consequences of the abdominal surgery, the pope should remain cautious and not stand upright for long. A general audience next Wednesday was therefore canceled.
Francis had recovered from the surgery in Gemelli Hospital in an apartment set up especially for popes. Photos were published for the first time after the operation on Thursday, showing how the Pope visited the children’s oncology and children’s neurosurgery wards.