Pope Francis to have intestinal surgery in Rome on Wednesday

Pope Francis will undergo an intestinal surgery on Wednesday and spend several days in the hospital recovering, Vatican officials said.

After his general audience at the Vatican on Wednesday, the pontiff went to Gemelli hospital in Rome, "where in the early afternoon he will undergo a Laparotomy and abdominal wall plastic surgery with prosthesis under general anaesthesia," Matteo Bruni, director of the press office for The Holy See, said in a statement in Italian.