Pope Francis admitted to the hospital for the planned operation the Italian news

This is the first treatment known to the pope in the hospital since he was elected to the shrine in 2013.

Pope Francis has been admitted to a hospital in Rome for surgery on his large intestine, the Vatican has reported.

The news came on Sunday after Francis cheerfully greeted the people in St. Peter’s Square and said he would travel to Hungary and Slovakia in September.

A brief statement from the Holy See’s press office did not specify when the operation would take place at the Gemelli Polyclinic, a Catholic teaching hospital, only that there would be a medical update after the operation was completed.

But the Vatican later stated that the operation would take place on the same day. It was the Pope’s first treatment in the hospital since he was elected to the shrine in 2013.

The Vatican said the 84-year-old pope had been diagnosed with “symptomatic diverticulum of colonic stenosis,” referring to a tightening of the large intestine.

The operation was to be performed by Dr. Sergio Alfieri, director of Gemelli’s digestive surgery department.

Pray for the Pope

A week earlier, Francis had used Sunday’s appearance to ask the public for special prayers for him, which, in retrospect, could have signaled the planned operation.

“I ask you to pray for the Pope, to pray in a special way,” Francis asked the faithful in the square on June 27.

“The Pope needs your prayers,” he said, thanking her and saying, “I know you will do that.”

A diverticulum is a sac-like protrusion along the muscular wall of the intestine.

When diverticula become inflamed (which is common, especially in the elderly), this part of the intestine can sometimes tighten, and surgery should be performed, according to gastroenterological experts.

Such surgery can be performed under general anesthesia by laparoscopic intervention. Sometimes it is necessary to re-cut the damaged part of the intestine.

Francis is generally in good health, but at a young age he had part of his lung removed.

He also suffers from sciatica, as a nerve affects his small back and legs, which has been a painful condition that sometimes forces him to skip scheduled appearances.

The pope had particularly strict appointments last week, including holding a mass on Tuesday to celebrate Catholic Day of Saints Peter and Paul, and later that week leading a special prayer service to Lebanon.

On June 28, he also had a lengthy private audience at the Vatican with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blink. In all these engagements, Francis appeared with good will.

Get wishes

Italian President Sergio Mattarella offered “lovable thinking” on behalf of all Italians.

Mattarella added that he wishes the pope “good convalescence and even faster recovery.”

Gemelli’s doctors have previously operated on a patient of the pope, most notably Pope John Paul II, who removed what the Vatican said in 1992 was a benign colon tumor.