Pope Francis ‘doing well’ after surgery: Vatican

By Giovanni Legorano

ROME (AA) - Pope Francis is “doing well” after the surgery he underwent earlier this week, the Vatican said on Saturday.

On medical advice, the pope will pray the Sunday Angelus “in private, joining spiritually, with affection and gratitude, all the believers who will want to accompany him, wherever they are,” the Vatican said in a statement.

On Wednesday, Francis, 86, underwent a three-hour operation to repair an abdominal hernia.

The Vatican said his blood tests and chest X-rays taken after the surgery were “good.”

He was taken off intravenous tubes in the past days and he is now on a semi-liquid diet, it added.

Chief surgeon Sergio Alfieri said the pope will probably remain hospitalized at Policlinico Gemelli in Rome until the end of next week.