Pope Francis discharged from hospital after abdominal surgery

Pope Francis on Friday was discharged from the Rome hospital where he had abdominal surgery nine days earlier to repair a hernia and remove painful scarring.

Pope Francis on Friday was discharged from the Rome hospital where he had abdominal surgery nine days earlier to repair a hernia and remove painful scarring, with his surgeon saying the pontiff is now “better than before” the hospitalization.

Francis, 86, left through Gemelli Polyclinic’s main exit in a wheelchair, smiling and waving and saying “thanks” to a crowd of well-wishers, then stood up so he could get into the small Vatican car awaiting him. In the brief distance before he could reach the white Fiat 500, reporters thrust microphones practically at his face, and the pontiff seemed to bat them away, good-naturedly.

“Still alive,” the pope quipped when a reporter asked how he was.

“The pope is well. He’s better than before,” Dr. Sergio Alfieri, the surgeon who did the three-hour operation on June 7 told reporters after he said goodbye to Francis as the pontiff got into the car.

Following the surgery, Francis will be a “strong pope,” said Alfieri, who was outside along with the surging crowd as the pontiff exited.

Right after the pontiff returned home, the Vatican press office announced that Francis would make his traditional Sunday noon appearance at an Apostolic window overlooking St. Peter’s Square to greet the public, an appointment that lasts about 10 minutes.

But his customary Wednesday general audience with thousands of faithful in the square “has been canceled to safeguard the post-surgical recovery of the Holy Father,” the announcement said. The general audience lasts about an hour and includes a speech by the pontiff.

When asked by a reporter outside the hospital for a comment about the migrant disaster off Greece that has claimed dozens of lives and left hundreds missing, Francis replied: “So much sorrow.”