Pope on liquid diet, calls mother of baby he baptised in March

by CNS · June 9, 2023

Pictured is a large card Pope Francis received after being operated on June 7, 2023, at Rome’s Gemelli hospital. The card is from the family of Miguel Ángel, an infant the pope had baptised in Gemelli’s oncology ward March 31. The card says “Get well soon” and “Thank you for blessing our little brother Michelangelo.” The card also says, “we wish you from the bottom of our hearts that you get better, we would love to meet you in person and spend an afternoon together so that you can better get to know our family, your family, since now you are part of our lives.” (CNS photo/Holy See Press Office)

By Carol Glatz, CNS – Among the many messages Pope Francis has been getting over the course of his first full day recovering from abdominal surgery at Rome’s Gemelli hospital, his favourite, so far, was a large card from a Peruvian family he met during his last hospital stay.

Covered in hearts, smiley faces and colour photographs, the card said, “Get well soon!” and “We love you very much.”

One photograph explained why the card would be so special for the pope: it showed the pope with Miguel Ángel, the infant he baptized in the oncology ward March 31, together with the child’s mother. The other photos showed Miguel’s two big brothers, who wrote, “Thank you for blessing our baby brother Michelangelo.”

“We wish you from the bottom of our hearts that you get better, we would love to meet you in person and spend an afternoon together so that you can better get to know our family, your family, since now you are part of our lives,” the card also said.

Pope Francis “was touched by the affection of the family of little Miguel Ángel” who sent him a big card “wishing him a speedy recovery,” said Matteo Bruni, director of the Vatican press office, in a written statement the evening of June 8.

“The Holy Father wanted to personally thank the mother with a brief phone call,” he added.

Bruni said the pope spent his first full day at the hospital resting per doctors’ orders.

He was on a liquid diet, his vital signs were stable and post-operative tests results were normal, Bruni said. June 8 was also the Solemnity of Corpus Christi, and the pope did receive the Eucharist.

Pope Francis had spent a restful, peaceful first night at Rome’s Gemelli hospital after a successful three-hour operation June 7 for a hernia.

He was informed of the many messages of “closeness and affection” from well-wishers and he “expresses his gratitude, while asking for continued prayers,” Bruni said in a written statement the morning of June 8.

The medical staff in charge of monitoring the 86-year-old pope’s post-operative recovery said that “Pope Francis had a peaceful night, managing to rest extensively,” Bruni said.

The pope “is in good general condition, alert and breathing on his own. Routine follow-up examinations are good,” Bruni added.

The president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio of the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services, asked that Catholics “keep Pope Francis and all those in the hospital in your prayers.”

“As Pope Francis recovers from surgery, he is strengthened by faith in the healing power of our merciful God,” he said in a written statement released June 7. “Jesus always walks with us and is even closer whenever we need healing and comfort.”

Pope Francis underwent a three-hour abdominal surgery “without complications” June 7 to treat a hernia, according to the Vatican press office.

The 86-year-old pope was taken to Rome’s Gemelli hospital shortly after his general audience June 7. He was put under general anaesthesia and underwent abdominal surgery to treat a hernia that developed at the site of abdominal incisions from previous operations, Dr Sergio Alfieri, the chief surgeon operating on the pope, said at a news conference at the hospital following the operation.

Speaking to journalists after the surgery, Alfieri said Pope Francis had a number of internal scars and adhesions from two operations many years ago, possibly in Argentina; one was to treat peritonitis — inflammation of abdominal tissue — caused by an infected gallbladder and another to treat hydatid disease caused by cysts containing a parasite. It was this last operation that had left behind scars in the pope’s abdominal tissue where another hernia had developed.

Alfieri said that during the three-hour operation adhesions were found between the intestine and the membrane that lines the abdomen, that for months caused an “aggravating, painful” intestinal blockage.

The adhesions were freed during the surgery and the opening in the abdomen’s wall that led to the hernia was repaired with prosthetic mesh.

Alfieri, who also operated on the pope in 2021, said the pope had no complications and responded well to the general anaesthesia he was administered during this surgery and the one in 2021 that removed part of his colon.

The chief surgeon underscored that, in both operations, all affected tissue had been benign.

“The pope does not have other illnesses,” he said.

Alfieri explained that while the medical team that follows the pope had been discussing the scheduled operation for several days, the final decision to operate was not taken until June 6, when Pope Francis briefly visited the hospital for a medical checkup and tests.

“It was not urgent,” he said, “or else we would have operated on him then.”

Before going to the hospital the pope seemed well and in good spirits, holding his general audience as usual, riding in the popemobile, blessing babies, walking with a cane and meeting special guests afterward. He had held two private meetings before the general audience in St. Peter’s Square.

Vatican News reported he arrived at the Gemelli hospital around 11:30 a.m. local time in the compact Fiat 500 he often rides in. The windows of the papal suite on the 10th floor of the hospital were opened just after 6 p.m.

Alfieri noted that shortly after the surgery Pope Francis was already working and making jokes, and had asked the surgeon in jest: “When are we doing the third (surgery)?”

While Alfieri said recovery for this operation typically lasts about seven days. Vatican News reported that the pope’s audiences have been cancelled until June 18 as a “precaution.”

Bruni said June 7 that, for now, all events the pope was scheduled to attend after June 18 were still on his calendar and had not been cancelled.

Pope Francis was scheduled to meet with 29 Nobel Peace Prize winners at the Vatican June 10 for an event to celebrate human fraternity. Before going to the hospital, the pope encouraged its organizers to continue with the event as planned without him, a statement from the foundation organizing the event said.

This was Pope Francis’ third hospitalisation at the Gemelli hospital, the most recent was from March 29 to April 1 when he was admitted for an acute respiratory infection.