Vatican says Pope Francis to leave hospital “as soon as possible”

A TV crew works outside the Gemelli hospital in Rome, 12 July 12 2021, where Pope Francis will spend “a few more days” following his colon surgery.
(FILIPPO MONTEFORTE/AFP via Getty Images)

Pope Francis remains in hospital following surgery two Sundays ago, to remove part of his colon. The latest update on his condition from the Press Office of the Holy See says that he “is continuing his planned treatment and rehabilitation, which will allow him to return to the Vatican as soon as possible.”

The statement offers no further details regarding his progress, but notes that the pope has “addressed a special thought to those who are bedridden and cannot return home,” among the many patients he has met during these days” of hospitalisation.

“May they live this time as an opportunity,” he prayed, “even if experienced in pain, to open themselves with tenderness to their sick brother or sister in the next bed, with whom they share the same human frailty.”

Pope Francis’s stay in hospital following the operation on July 4 was originally slated for five days. That prediction was extended last week, and Pope Francis prayed the Angelus in hospital. On Monday, the Vatican announced that he would remain in hospital some days more.

The 84-year-old Pope Francis had briefly run a “slight fever” early in his recovery, but has been walking, meeting with patients and hospital staff, reading, and — the Vatican has noted in other, earlier health bulletins — said Mass in his hospital suite’s private chapel.