As Pope Francis enters his 14th day at Gemelli Hospital, now the longest of his four stays at the polyclinic in Rome, some observers may be tempted to regard the long papal hospitalisation as exceptional.
But the current pontiff is still far off the length of hospitalisation experienced by Pope John Paul II, now St. John Paul II.
Indeed, as of this morning, Francis’s stay at Gemelli in terms of longevity ties for fifth place with the same number of days that John Paul II was hospitalised in 1992 for the removal of a benign intestinal tumour in July that year.
