The chief of the Catholic Church appeared in good spirits earlier than he was admitted to hospital on Wednesday, utilizing the Popemobile to greet folks throughout his basic viewers in St Peter’s Square.

The Pope has been admitted to hospital for an operation on his gut.

It comes a day after he had medical tests at a Rome hospital.

The Vatican stated the process can be below basic anaesthetic on Wednesday afternoon and he would keep in hospital for “some days”.

It stated the 86-year-old had been struggling “recurrent, painful and worsening” signs brought on by a incarcerated laparocele (stomach hernia).

The Pope spent three days in hospital with a respiratory infection in March – joking “I’m still alive!” when he was discharged – and final month needed to skip audiences due to a fever.

Two years in the past, he additionally had 33cm (13 inches) of his colon eliminated due to an irritation and narrowing of the big gut.

He can also be lacking a part of one lung, which was eliminated when he was a younger man in Argentina, and sometimes makes use of a cane to stroll attributable to knee ache.

The Pope appeared in good spirits earlier than he was admitted to hospital on Wednesday, utilizing the Popemobile to greet folks throughout his basic viewers in St Peter’s Square.

The Vatican stated he was then taken to Rome’s Gemelli University Hospital for a “laparotomy and abdominal wall plastic surgery with prosthesis”.

A laparotomy entails a big incision within the stomach to look at the organs and diagnose or deal with any issues.

“The stay at the health facility will last several days to allow for the normal post-operative course and full functional recovery,” the Vatican stated.

The Pope has a busy summer season lined up, with a four-day journey to Portugal for World Youth Day initially of August and a visit to Mongolia about 4 weeks later.