Vatican says Pope Francis is alert and well, a day after surgery

The Vatican said Monday that Pope Francis is “in good condition, alert and breathing on his own,” a day after he underwent a three-hour operation that involved removing half his colon. Francis, 84, is expected to stay in Rome’s Gemelli Polyclinic, a Catholic hospital, for about seven days “barring complications," Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said. The brief medical bulletin contained the first details the Vatican released, coming more than 12 hours after the end of Sunday’s surgery. The procedure was necessitated by what the Holy See said was a diverticular stenosis, or narrowing the pope’s sigmoid portion of the large intestine. “His Holy Father is in good, general condition, alert and breathing spontaneously,” Bruni said in a written statement. “The operation for the diverticular stenosis, performed during the evening of July 4, involved a left hemicolectomy and lasted for about three hours,” Bruni said. That procedure entails removing the left side of the colon and attaching the remaining parts of the large intestine. Francis was spending his first morning convalescing in a Rome hospital following the surgery on the left side of his large intestine. Full story: https://www.weareiowa.com/article/new... Subscribe to Local 5 on YouTube:    / weareiowalocal5news   Add Local 5 on Roku: https://channelstore.roku.com/details... Download the We Are Iowa app: https://weareiowa.com/app Get Local 5’s "5 Things to Know" email newsletter in your inbox: https://weareiowa.com/email 'Like' Local 5 on Facebook:   / weareiowa   Follow Local 5 on Twitter:   / weareiowa5news   Follow Local 5 on Instagram:   / weareiowa