VATICAN CITY — The Vatican says Pope Francis has “reacted well” to planned intestinal surgery Sunday evening at a Rome hospital.
In a statement late Sunday, a Holy See spokesman says the 84-year-old Francis had general anesthesia during the surgery necessitated by a narrowing of the sigmoid portion of the large intestine.
Spokesman Matteo Bruni didn’t say how long the surgery lasted.
The pope's surgery took place after the Vatican released brief announcement Sunday afternoon. Just three hours earlier, Francis had cheerfully greeted the public in St. Peter’s Square and told them he will go to Hungary and Slovakia in September.
A week earlier, Francis, 84, had used the same appearance to ask the public for special prayers for himself, which might have hinted at the planned surgery at Rome’s Gemelli Polyclinic.
Francis is in generally good health, but did have part of one lung removed as a young man.
