Still in recovery, Pope Francis misses Sunday prayers for first time

ROME — Pope Francis continued to recover from abdominal surgery in a Rome hospital on Sunday but missed the traditional weekly Angelus prayer for the first time in his 10-year pontificate.

The pope’s recovery was proceeding normally, the Holy See reported. Francis, 86, was receiving physiotherapy to assist his breathing, it added.

On Saturday, his surgeon, Sergio Alfieri, said the pope was following a careful recovery schedule aimed at putting the least strain on the abdominal wall and that his vital signs were as expected. Francis is set to remain in hospital throughout the coming week.

The pope normally says the Angelus to the faithful on St Peter’s Square from a balcony of the Apostolic Palace in Vatican City. Following an operation in 2021, he said the prayer from the Gemelli Hospital. During the pandemic, the Angelus was broadcast online, as gatherings on the square were not permitted.

But on this occasion, he is avoiding physical movement that puts strain on the abdomen, where stitches are in place covering the mesh repairing the hernia in order to assure the healing process is not disturbed.

The pope instead followed mass on television and prayed in a small chapel before taking lunch along with doctors, nurses and bodyguards in a private ward in the hospital, Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said. He took solid food for the first time on Saturday.

The pope underwent his operation on Wednesday. According to Alfieri he stood up well to the three-hour operation under general anesthetic.