Pope Francis back in Vatican after successful abdominal surgery

Pope Francis has returned to the Vatican after being discharged from Rome's Gemelli hospital on Friday where he underwent a successful intestinal surgery, amid speculations about the future of his papacy, which has become extremely difficult for him because of his chronic ailments. 

The pontiff left the hospital in a wheelchair and spoke with well-wishers and medical staff who had gathered outside the entrance to say goodbye. 

He was surrounded by security as he left and was assisted into a waiting car. The pope also stopped for a brief visit at a convent before greeting and thanking security guards outside an entrance to the city. 

He will deliver his weekly Angelus prayer this Sunday and is well enough to keep all of his appointments except for a general audience next Wednesday.

Medical staff reported that the pontiff had "rested well during the night. The clinical course continues regularly. Hematochemical examinations are in the normal range." 

As a token of thanks, he received the entire operating team and visited children in the Pediatric Oncology and Children's Neurosurgery ward. 

The pope expressed his gratitude to all the healthcare staff for their professionalism and efforts to alleviate each other's suffering with tenderness and humanity in addition to medication.

Pope Francis has experienced a series of health issues over his lifetime, including a colon surgery two years ago, having part of one lung removed after struggling with pneumonia as a young man and suffering from chronic sciatica pain.

In the past year, he has used a cane or a wheelchair to alleviate his knee troubles. If Francis were to be medically impaired for any length of time, the Vatican could face a constitutional crisis, as there is no "vice pope" in the Catholic system. 

The pope revealed in December that he had already arranged a letter of resignation in the case of permanent medical impairment, shortly after his election in 2013. In 2013, Francis' immediate predecessor, the late Pope Benedict XVI, made the almost unprecedented choice to step down from his post, citing his "advanced age" and shaking the Catholic world.