Pope Leo diagnosed with lung cancer after undergoing surgery to remove growth

LAST UPDATE | 1 hr ago

DOCTORS HAVE REMOVED part of Pope Leo XIV’s right lung during a 90-minute operation on Tuesday after finding a cancerous growth, the Vatican said in a statement.

The pope “woke up normally” after the operation and is now back in his room on the 10th floor of Rome’s Gemelli hospital, the statement said.

A Vatican source added that the pope (71) had asked for dinner.

“To ensure the procedure was radical, the lower lobe of the right lung was removed,” the Vatican said, adding that the operation “confirmed the diagnosis of a pulmonary adenocarcinoma, as suspected from the pre-operative tests”.

“The Holy Father was in the operating room for about 3 hours, and the duration of the operation itself was around 90 minutes. The surgery was successful and there were no complications,” the statement said.

Leo had walked into Gemelli hospital through the main entrance earlier in the day and waved to dozens of well-wishers who had gathered to greet him.

The Vatican said the surgery would be performed by a team led by Gemelli’s chief thoracic surgeon, Dr Stefano Margaritora.

The operation got under way as medical staff recited the Rosary prayer in the hospital chapel this evening.

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“Let us join together in prayer, asking the Lord to sustain our bishop, Pope Leo, and to comfort all those who are hospitalised here,” said the Vicar of Rome, Cardinal Baldassare Reina, at the start of the prayer.

Chicago-born Pope Leo has offered a rare level of transparency about the first publicly disclosed major health problem of his 17-month papacy.

He shared the discovery of the small, localised nodule during his noon prayer on Sunday and announced that he would have it removed, saying that it had been located “at a very early stage”.

A lung nodule is a small abnormal area measuring less than three centimetres that sometimes appears on a CT scan of the chest or abdomen. The Vatican said it was discovered during regular checks.

The surgery, which is usually performed under general anaesthesia, will require a weeklong hospital stay.

On Monday, the Vatican cancelled all Leo’s audiences through to 20 October.

He is next due to go to Uruguay, Argentina and Peru between 6 and 17 November.

With reporting from AFP and the Press Association