Pope Leo XIV is recovering in a Rome hospital after a “successful” operation to remove part of his right lung, which was found to have a cancerous growth, the Vatican said.
The Vatican announced Tuesday night that the surgery had finished “as planned” and that Leo had “returned to his hospital room.”
“The Pope underwent thoracic surgery as scheduled,” Dr. Luigi Carbone and Professor Stefano Margaritola said in a statement. “The lower lobe of the right lung was removed using video-assisted surgery.”
Further examination of the lung lobes revealed evidence of lung adenocarcinoma, a common type of lung cancer. The whole procedure took approximately 90 minutes.
Cardiologist analyzes Pope Leo’s cancer diagnosis
The surgery took place on Tuesday afternoon at the Agostino Gemelli University General Hospital in northwestern Rome. The hospital is a private medical facility with long-standing ties to the Vatican. This week’s hospitalization is his first since becoming pope.
The 71-year-old pope told a crowd in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday that doctors had found a “nodule” in his lung and recommended it be removed. Leo said on Sunday that the growth was detected “very early” and had been “successfully contained.”
The 10th floor of this hospital has a room reserved for the Pope, and Pope John Paul II famously called it “Vatican III” when he frequently stayed there, with St. Peter’s Basilica being Vatican I and the papal residence Castel Gandolfo being Vatican II. Pope Francis also stayed for an extended period of time early last year to receive treatment for pneumonia.
The Pope has canceled all public events until October 20th.
“Surgeries to remove nodules are typically less invasive and have lower complication rates,” Dr. Matthew Triplett, a lung cancer and critical care medicine specialist and medical director of the lung cancer screening program at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle, said earlier this week. He added that patients are usually hospitalized for several days and then continue their recovery at home.
“These surgeries to remove the nodule are usually less invasive and have a lower complication rate,” Triplett told CNN before the pope’s diagnosis was confirmed. “If this is cancer, the prognosis is very good, with a five-year disease-free survival rate of 80% (or more) for early-stage non-small cell lung cancer.”
The Vatican will continue to function while the pope is in hospital, but anything requiring his signature will have to be postponed. A spokesman said Sunday that the pope will need about a week to recover from surgery.
The Vatican has no specific rules for how leadership of the Catholic Church will take over if the pope becomes incapacitated. Even if the Pope is unconscious and undergoing surgery, he retains all of his papal powers.
Pope Francis and Pope John Paul II issued laws and statements while hospitalized. The Vatican’s day-to-day operations are already handled by a separate team.
Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin told Italian media on Tuesday that all Catholic clergy were praying for the pope’s health.
“The silence with which the Pope announced this procedure shocked all of us,” Parolin said. “We hope he can resolve this issue as soon as possible. We are confident, and of course we are supporting him in our prayers.”
Parolin explained that she saw Leo yesterday evening and was surprised that he needed surgery.
“We spoke very softly,” he said. “Are you worried? Yes, I wasn’t expecting anything like this.”
“Thankfully, it was discovered quickly,” Parolin continued. “And usually these problems can be resolved if caught in time.”
The pope maintained his usual busy schedule on Monday, holding back-to-back meetings in the morning before attending a gathering of bishops and church leaders at the Vatican.
News of America’s first papal surgery sparked an outpouring of congratulations around the world, including from those who visited Rome. “We just hope his surgery goes well,” said Paul Cavulich, a native of the pope’s hometown of Chicago, who was in Rome on a pilgrimage with his daughter on Monday. “And he has God, that’s for sure.”
The Vatican Press Office said the growth in the pope’s lungs was discovered during a “routine examination.” Leo is not known to have any underlying health issues, but he likes to stay active by playing tennis and going swimming.
