Pope Francis is doing well and continues to recover in hospital after abdominal surgery, but he will not pray the Angelus publicly on Sunday, the surgeon who operated on him, Sergio Alfieri, said on Saturday, according to AFP.

Pope FrancisPhoto: Maria Grazia Picciarella / Shutterstock Editorial / Profimedia Images

“He has no temperature, all cardiorespiratory functions are normal,” the surgeon told the media.

But to avoid straining the muscles of the abdominal wall, such as getting out of bed or sitting down, the doctors advised him not to pray to the Angel of God in public, that is, not to try to approach the window of his room in Gemella. hospital, where he is hospitalized, read a prayer and bless the faithful.

“Pope Francis has no heart problems at the moment, he never had in the past (…), so the heart is fine,” Alfieri insisted.

“Usually, after such an operation, one stays in the hospital for 4-5 days. We hope to convince him to stay for the whole of next week, as this recovery in the hospital will allow him to return to work with more strength and confidence,” added the surgeon.

However, he admitted that the final decision would be up to Francis to decide when he wants to leave the hospital.

His convalescence is aimed at “putting as little stress on the abdominal wall as possible” to allow the muscles to heal as well as possible and the prosthesis to bond with the abdominal tissues, because “if the prosthesis breaks, he’ll have to go back to the operating room, and he , no, I will not be happy about it,” said the expert.

On Wednesday, the Argentine Jesuit underwent a three-hour operation under general anesthesia to remove painful “adhesions” on his abdominal wall following colon surgery in July 2021.

The operation, which lasted three hours and involved a dozen doctors, involved a laparotomy (incision of the abdomen) and the installation of a prosthesis. This comes after the first colon surgery in July 2021, after which the bishop of Rome was hospitalized for about ten days.

For several months, the head of the Catholic Church, whose health appears to be becoming increasingly fragile, has been suffering from severe pain in the intestines due to a herniated abdominal wall that formed on the scars from previous operations.