How is Francesco? Lungs, colon, knees: all the pope’s health problems
How is Francesco? The pontiff is 84 years old and has all the ailments of a man of his age. However, overall his health picture is satisfactory: it should not be forgotten that the pontiff is followed by a medical team made up of great professionals and that, if necessary, hospitalization is arranged.
How is the Pope? How can an 84-year-old man be who leads a busy and stressful life? Overall, his health picture is satisfactory: it should not be forgotten that the pontiff is followed daily by a medical team made up of the best professionals in Rome. We are speaking, however, of a man who since he was twenty-one has lived without a piece of lung, he’s right, which was removed in Buenos Aires due to the presence of malignant cysts. An impairment that has not prevented him from living normally in all these years, even if it has not allowed him to realize his youthful dream, that of becoming a missionary. History (and, for those who believe, the Holy Spirit) had reserved for him, however, a completely different path.
Already a few months after his election, rumors of Pope Francis’ imminent resignation for health reasons were running around in the Vatican, in the wake of what Benedict XVI already did in 2013. After eight years and an increase in ailments, the pontiff, however, continues to reign over Christianity. The latest rumors of his resignation came last July when the Pope was admitted to the Roman hospital Gemelli for surgery due to symptomatic diverticular stenosis of the colon. It was the second surgery under general anesthesia in Bergoglio’s life, after the one over sixty years ago in Argentina. An operation that, then, could have been avoided if only the Pope’s lung disease had been treated in time with simple antibiotics.
A few days ago it was Francis himself who denied the rumors about his abandonment, which, in his words, “never crossed his mind”. The Pope clarified that certain rumors often arrive late and he was amazed that new ones had circulated after his surgery. If Francis left, among other things, it would be the first time in over two millennia of the history of the Catholic Church that two resigning popes live together. An eventuality that the Pope does not intend to implement.
Not just colon and lung problems for the pontiff, anyway. Jorge Mario Bergoglio also suffers from sciatica and knee pain. This is the reason why he rarely kneels before the Blessed Sacrament, which has attracted him many times the arrows of traditionalist Catholics, who are always ready to cry scandal in front of the behavior of a Pope considered by them to be too progressive. . In 2019, then, the Pope had to undergo cataract surgery: a routine operation for many elderly people, but which nevertheless did, once again, discuss the overall state of health of the Pope.
