Pope Francis, 86, in hospital for major surgery under general anaesthetic
Pope Francis is about to be admitted to hospital for a number of days for an operation on his intestine, the Vatican has announced.
The Pontiff went to the hospital on Wednesday for surgery on his intestine, two years after he had 33 centimeters (13 inches) of his colon removed because of an inflammation and narrowing of the large intestine.
The Vatican said Francis, 86, would be put under general anesthesia and would be hospitalized for several days.
Pope Francis appeared at his weekly general audience on Wednesday, a day after he went to the hospital for a checkup.
The Vatican provided no details about the medical tests Francis underwent on Tuesday at Rome's Gemelli hospital. Francis, 86, appeared in good form, though, at his audience in St. Peter's Square, zipping around the square in his popemobile greeting the faithful.
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He also had two meetings Wednesday morning beforehand, the Vatican said.
Pope Francis in a wheelchair, prepares to leave at the end of the weekly general audience on June 7 (AFP via Getty Images)Francis spent three days at the Gemelli hospital in late March. Initially, the Vatican said he had gone in for scheduled tests, but the pontiff later revealed he had felt pain in his chest and was rushed to the hospital where bronchitis was diagnosed.
He was put on intravenous antibiotics and was released April 1, quipping that he was "still alive."
The Argentine pope had part of one lung removed when he was a young man. He also suffers from sciatica nerve pain and has been using a wheelchair and walker for more than a year because of strained ligaments in his knee.
The Gemelli Hospital in Rome, where Francis stayed during his last operation (AFP via Getty Images)Francis has had a packed schedule of late, with multiple audiences each day. The Vatican has recently confirmed a travel-filled August, when the Holy See and Italy are usually on vacation, with a four-day visit to Portugal the first week of August and a similarly long trip to Mongolia starting Aug. 31.
In a sign that the trips were very much on, the Vatican on Tuesday released the planned itinerary for Francis' visit to Portugal for World Youth Day events from Aug. 2-6.
The Pope has suffered a number of ailments in recent months and years, but joked he was "still alive" on April 1 (AFP via Getty Images)The itinerary confirms a typically busy schedule that includes all the protocol meetings of an official state visit plus multiple events with young people and a day trip to the Marian shrine at Fatima.
In April, he joked he was "still alive" after leaving hospital in Rome where he had stayed for three days for bronchitis.
Before departing, Francis hugged a couple whose five-year-old daughter had died on Friday night at the hospital.
Serena Subania, mother of Angelica, sobbed as she pressed her head into the chest of the Pope, who put a hand on her head.
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When a boy showed him his arm cast, the pope made a gesture as if to ask "Do you have a pen?" A papal aide handed Francis one, and he autographed the cast.
Francis sat in the front seat of a white Fiat 500 car that drove him away from Gemelli Polyclinic.
But instead of heading straight home, his motorcade sped right past Vatican City, according to an Associated Press photographer positioned outside the walled city-state.
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