Why is Pope Francis missing part of a lung?

Pope Francis is going through a difficult medical moment at the Rome hospital where he has been hospitalized since Wednesday with a respiratory tract infection. But he seems to be getting better. After spending “a quiet night”, the Catholic leader is in full recovery.

Doctors ruled out coronavirus, heart problems and pneumonia. “His clinical picture progressively improves and he continues the planned treatment.. This morning, after breakfast, he read some newspapers and went back to work. Before lunch he went to the small chapel of his private apartment, where he gathered in prayer and received the Eucharist,” reads the report released on Thursday.

The truth is It’s not the first time Francisco has had lung problems. Decades ago, when he was only Jorge Bergoglio, he suffered a complication in that organ which led to a “major operation”.

“A Great Operation”

In 1957, Bergoglio underwent complex surgery on his right lung which frightened him so much that he even thought about his death. She was 21 years old and in her second year of seminary at Devotee Seminary,

“When I became seriously ill at the age of twenty-one, I had my first experience with limitation, with pain and loneliness. The guidelines have changed. For months I didn’t know who I was and whether I was dying or not. Not even the doctors knew if he would survive. I remember one day I asked my mother, hugging her, if I was going to die, ”she told in her book“ Let’s dream together ”.

That winter – he recounted in an interview with Nelson Castro -, Argentina had just suffered a “strong epidemic” of flu which had affected many seminarians, including himself.

“My case has evolved more torpidly. I continued to suffer from a feverish condition that did not subside,” he said. As a result, seeing him in bad condition, the director of the seminary took him to the Sirio Libanés Hospital for studies.

There, a pulmonologist named Zorraquín ordered laboratory studies and chest X-rays to be performed, which, after being examined, revealed that he had three cysts in the upper lobe of his right lung and a bilateral pleural effusion that was causing him pain and breathing problems. distress.

“I remember the date, April 13, 1957. A prefect realized that mine was not a simple flu that was treated with medicines and took me to the hospital. At first they took a liter and a half of water from my lung. Moreover, there I stayed to fight for a living”, Francisco said in first person.

“When I recovered from the anesthesia, the pain I felt was very intense,” the pope said in his conversation with Castro. The Supreme Pontiff defined the intervention as “bloody” e revealed that he has since had a scar running from the base of his right hemithorax to its vertex.

When asked if his body suffered any consequences from the operation, Bergoglio he denied it.

“The recovery was complete and I never felt any limitation in my activities. I have never experienced tiredness or shortness of breath. As the doctors explained to me, the right lung expanded and covered the entire ipsilateral hemithorax. And the expansion was so complete that if the antecedent is not warned, only a top-notch pulmonologist can detect the missing lobe removed,” she explained.