The Director of the Holy See Press Office, Matteo Bruni, has stated:

The Holy Father, admitted at the Agostino Gemelli University Hospital, underwent the planned surgery performed in the early hours of the afternoon by Professor Sergio Alfieri, Director of the Department of Medical and Surgical Abdominal and Endocrine Metabolic Sciences, assisted by Dr. Valerio Papa, Dr. Roberta Menghi, Dr. Antonio Tortorelli and Dr. Giuseppe Quero. The operation was performed under general anaesthesia administered by Professor Massimo Antonelli, Director of the Department of Emergency, Anaesthesiological and Resuscitation Sciences, assisted by Dr. Teresa Sacco, Dr. Paola Aceto and Dr. Maurizio Soave, and Dr. Giuseppina Annetta for the positioning of the central vascular access.

Also present in the operating room were Professor Giovanni Battista Doglietto, Director of the Health Care Fund, and Dr. Luigi Carbone, Doctor of the Health and Hygiene Directorate of the Vatican City State.

The following is the information provided by Professor Alfieri, who performed the operation:

"This afternoon, at the Agostino Gemelli University Hospital, the Holy Father underwent the planned surgery for an embedded incisional hernia at the scar of previous laparotomic surgeries performed in past years.

This hernia had been causing the Holy Father a painful intestinal sub-occlusive syndrome for several months.

During the surgery, tenacious adhesions were found between some partially congested mid-intestinal loops and the parietal peritoneum causing the above-mentioned symptoms.

The adhesions (internal scarring) were therefore released with complete debridement of the entire section of the small intestine. The hernial defect was then repaired by means of abdominal wall plastic surgery with the aid of a prosthetic mesh.

The surgery and general anaesthesia were carried out without complications. The Holy Father reacted well to the surgery".

Pope Francis is alert and conscious and is thankful for the many messages of closeness and prayer that have reached him since the beginning.