Pope Francis returns to Vatican 11 days after intestinal surgery

Pope Francis returned to the Vatican 11 days after surgery to remove part of his colon.

VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis returned to the Vatican on Wednesday, 11 days after surgery to remove part of his colon, starting a period of near-total rest and rehabilitation expected to last at least two weeks. The 84-year-old pontiff left Rome`s Gemelli hospital unannounced, leaving by a side door and travelling through Rome in a simple blue car with a small retinue of Vatican and Italian security. Photographers saw the pope leave the hospital in the car with darkened windows after staff had put a wheelchair in the trunk of a secondary vehicle. The Vatican did not officially announce that he had been discharged until he was back in the Vatican. When the pope entered the hospital in Rome`s northern outskirts on July 4, the Vatican announced it after he had been admitted. From the hospital, Francis first stopped to pray at the Rome Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore. Francis normally does this at the end of each foreign trip to give thanks to the Madonna.