Pope Francis was admitted this Sunday (4) in a hospital in Rome for a large intestine operation.
Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said the operation is already scheduled and will be performed to repair diverticular disease of the bowel, a narrowing of the colon that causes abdominal pain, bloating and bowel changes.
The disease is common in people over 80, in the case of the Pope, who turns 85 in December. He was admitted to the Policlínica Gemelli, where he is already receiving medical treatment.
This is the first time that Pope Francis has been interned since he took over as head of the Catholic Church in 2013.
A few hours before his hospitalization, he attended the traditional Sunday mass in St. Peter’s Square. In the speech, he said he would visit Hungary and Slovakia in September, but did not speak about the surgery.
The Pope is often out of breath, because part of one of his lungs was removed in his youth, in Argentina, after an illness.
He is also undergoing physical therapy to relieve sciatic nerve pain, which causes pain in his back and legs, causing difficulty in walking – that pain caused the Pope to cancel some events earlier this year.