Pope recovering normally; Sunday ‘Angelus’ from hospital

Vatican News staff reporter

Pope Francis “spent a quiet day”, Thursday, with “normal clinical progress”. “He continued to eat regularly and continued his scheduled treatment,” Matteo Bruni, the director of the Holy See Press Office, said in a brief statement on Friday. 

The Holy Father is recovering normally after a scheduled surgery for “diverticular stenosis of the colon” on Sunday at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital. 

In his update on the Pope’s convalescence, Bruni said he “walked in the corridor and resumed his work, alternating it with moments of reading texts”.  Thursday afternoon, “he celebrated Holy Mass in the chapel of his private apartment” in the hospital, “attended by all those assisting him during his hospitalization”.

Following a slight increase in temperature the previous evening, the Holy Father did not have any more fever. 

Bruni said that on Sunday, the Pope would recite the Angelus prayer from the 10th floor of the hospital.  “The Holy Father gives thanks for the many messages of affection and closeness that he receives daily and asks that we continue to pray for him,” he added.

Following the surgery, Sunday evening, Bruni had said the Pope was “expected to remain in hospital for approximately seven days, barring any complications”.  Diverticular stenosis of the colon is the constriction (stenosis) of the intestine due to the “diverticula”, or pouches or sacs, that form on the wall of the large intestine narrowing the passage.  During the surgery that lasted some 3 hours, the Pope had "a left hemicolectomy," which is the removal of the descending colon.