Pope suffered ‘severe’ narrowing of colon, examinations show

Pope Francis suffered from “severe” narrowing of the colon before his surgery, an examination of the tissue showed.

Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said the examination “confirmed a severe diverticular stenosis with signs of sclerosing diverticulitis,” The Associated Press reported.

The Vatican has been keeping daily updates of the pope’s condition after he underwent a three-hour surgery on Sunday to remove the left side of his colon due to the narrowing of his large intestine. 

Doctors said there was no sign of cancer in the tissue which confirmed the narrowing in the colon was a result of inflammation and scarring, according to AP.

Francis was up walking and eating breakfast two days after his surgery and is expected to stay in the hospital a week as long as there are no complications.

“His Holiness Pope Francis rested well during the night,” Bruni said Tuesday. “This morning he had breakfast, read some newspapers and got up to walk. The post-operative recovering is regular. Routine control tests are good.”

The 84-year-old pope has been in good health besides nerve pain that affects his walking and part of his lung being removed when he was younger due to an infection.