Pope Francis was hospitalized in Rome on Sunday afternoon for scheduled surgery on his large intestine, the Vatican said. The news came just three hours after Francis had cheerfully greeted the public in St. Peter’s Square and told them he will go to Hungary and Slovakia in September.
The brief statement from the Holy See’s press office didn’t say exactly when the surgery would be performed at the Gemelli Polyclinic, a Catholic teaching hospital, only that there would be a medical update when the surgery is complete. But the Vatican indicated later that the surgery would be the same day.
It was the pope’s first known hospital treatment since he was elected to the papacy in 2013.
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