Pope Francis, 84, has been admitted to Rome’s Gemelli Polyclinic for a scheduled intestinal surgery.
A brief announcement from the Vatican on Sunday afternoon said there would be an announcement when the surgery is complete, but did not say when the stenosis surgery would be performed.
Three hours before the statement, Francis greeted the public in Saint Peter’s Square in keeping with a Sunday tradition and told them he will go to Hungary and Slovakia in September.
According to The Vatican, the Pope has been diagnosed with “symptomatic diverticular stenosis of the colon”, a narrowing in the large intestine.
Francis is in good health, but did have part of a lung removed as a young man. He suffers from sciatica, occasionally having painful bouts of the condition that involves a nerve affecting the lower back and leg.
Gemelli doctors have performed surgery before on papal patients, including on John Paul II, who had a benign tumour in his colon removed in 1992.
