Pope Leo holds his first weekly general audience in St Peter's Square since cancer surgery, at the Vatican on Oct 21, 2026. (Photo: Reuters/Yara Nardi)

Pope will not need therapy after cancer surgery: Doctors

The 71-year-old pope has begun a gradual return to his duties and hopes to proceed with a planned visit to Uruguay, Argentina and Peru from Nov 6 to 17.

· CNA · Join

Read a summary of this article on FAST.
Get bite-sized news via a new
cards interface. Give it a try.
Click here to return to FAST Tap here to return to FAST
FAST

VATICAN CITY: Pope Leo XIV will not need therapy following an operation last week to remove a cancerous tumour from his lung, his doctors said in a statement released by the Vatican on Wednesday (Oct 21).

Test results showed the 71-year-old's cancer "was localised" and "a subsequent oncological assessment confirmed that no further therapy is required", the statement said.

Pope Leo, who was only elected last year as the first US pope, told followers on Oct 11 that he would be having surgery to remove a nodule.

The operation went ahead on Oct 13 at Rome's Gemelli hospital.

CNA Games

Guess Word
Crack the word, one row at a time

Buzzword
Create words using the given letters

Mini Sudoku
Tiny puzzle, mighty brain teaser

Mini Crossword
Small grid, big challenge

Word Search
Spot as many words as you can
Show More
Show Less

Doctors later revealed the growth was cancerous and they had to remove part of his right lung.

The leader of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics left hospital on Oct 17 and on Sunday said he would resume his duties "gradually".

He said he wants to go ahead with a long-planned visit to Uruguay, Argentina and Peru, where he lived for two decades, on Nov 6-17.

The illness came as a shock to the Catholic Church, and there had been concern that prolonged radiotherapy or chemotherapy could have affected the pope's ability to govern the Church.

Source: AFP/fs/dc

Sign up for our newsletters

Get our pick of top stories and thought-provoking articles in your inbox

Subscribe here

Get the CNA app

Stay updated with notifications for breaking news and our best stories

Download here

Get WhatsApp alerts

Join our channel for the top reads for the day on your preferred chat app

Join here