Pope Francis has told a
Spanish radio station that a nurse saved his life for the second
time in his life on the occasion of his recent colon operation.
Francis said the first time had been in 1957.
Referring to the colon op on July 4, the pope told Spanish
Catholic radio station COPE in an interview that will be
broadcast in full on Wednesday that "a (male) nurse saved my
life, a man of great experience".
He added: "It is the second time in my life that a nurser has
saved my life.
"The first was in 1957".
The pope, 84, spent 10 days in Rome's Gemelli Hospital at the
beginning of July after having an operation called a
left-hemicolectomy, which removed the left side of the colon and
joined the remaining sections - a common procedures in cases of
recurring episodes of diverticulitis.
The first nurse to save Francis's life was an Italian nun who
countermanded doctors' orders on the medicine the young
seminarian was taking in Argentina to treat his pneumonia.
Vatican watchers said the second nurse to save the pontiff's
life could well have been Vatican City health worker
Massimiliano Strappetti, who has been alongside Francis in all
his health problems, along with a second staff nurse.
The pope, who is set to leave on a four-day trip to Hungary and
Slovakia on September 12, has appeared as fit as ever in recent
public appearances.
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