Pope Leo diagnosed with lung cancer

Doctors have removed part of Pope Leo XIV’s right lung during a 90-minute operation after finding a cancerous growth, the Vatican has 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 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 three hours, and the duration of the operation itself was around 90 minutes. The surgery was successful and there were no complications,” the statement said.

Asked if there was any sign that the cancer had spread further, a Vatican source said further tests were being carried out.

Pope Leo XIV entered the hospital smiling and waving hours before the surgery to remove the growth that looks like a coin on the lung.

“The procedure was successfully completed, within the expected time and in the planned manner,” the Vatican said in a brief statement.

“The Holy Father has returned to his room,” it said, adding that more details would be given later.

The surgery marks the 71-year-old Leo’s first hospitalisation since he became head of the Catholic Church on May 8, 2025. Vatican officials who saw the Pope said he appeared relaxed about the hospital stay.

In a surprise announcement following Angelus prayers on Sunday, Leo told crowds in St Peter’s Square that doctors had discovered the nodule “at a very early stage” during medical checks.

“The doctors believe it would be right to intervene,” he said.

The Vatican has historically been very secretive about the health of popes, but began to be more transparent during the illness of Leo’s predecessor Francis, an Argentine who freely discussed his ailments.

People outside the hospital expressed concern over the Pope’s condition.

Giorgia Fei, a 57-year-old Italian, said she had been worried by the news.

“However, the Holy Father is in very good hands here at the hospital because we have some outstanding doctors,” she said.

“I will pray a lot for him.”

Giuseppe Purpura, 72, said he was also concerned.

“He’s still quite young and I really wasn’t expecting this. I thought he was in better health,” he said, noting that “thankfully it was caught in time.”.

The Vicar General for the Diocese of Rome, Cardinal Baldassare Reina, led a rosary prayer for the pope inside the hospital chapel which was broadcast by the Vatican. Dozens of people attended and Reina asked all the city’s parishes to join in.

Before the surgery, the Vatican said the Pope’s recovery time was expected to be about a week. His audiences have been cancelled until October 20.

The Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, told ANSA news agency that Leo had been “very calm” about his condition when they met on Monday.

Routine health checks

Chicago-born Leo, the first US Pope, is sporty and believed to generally be in good health.

He is scheduled to travel to South America from November 6-17 to visit Uruguay, Argentina and Peru.

It was not immediately clear what would happen if the Pope was forced into a longer recovery.

Under Church law, a figure known as the Cardinal Camerlengo – or chamberlain – takes over administrative duties if the Pope dies, but pontiffs do not have a deputy to replace them if they become incapacitated.

Marco Scarci, a thoracic surgery expert in the UK, told AFP it was not “a particularly risky operation” and he expected Leo’s recovery to be quick.

Most pulmonary nodules are benign, or non-cancerous, but a small percentage can be an early indication of lung cancer.

The Vatican told AFP the nodule was found during routine health checks, and there were no symptoms that led to checking the Pope’s lungs.

‘Coin lesion’

A small nodule is called a “coin lesion” because on X-rays it looks like a coin, Professor Federico Venuta, head of thoracic surgery at the Policlinico Umberto 1 hospital in Rome, told AFP.

Small nodules tend not to cause symptoms, but larger ones can cause shortness of breath, chest pain and persistent coughing – sometimes with blood.

Such nodules “could be a whole range of benign lesions -- inflammatory, infectious, autoimmune, or congenital -- or they could be malignant,” Venuta said.

Removing the nodule can take place under general anaesthetic with the patient breathing through a tube.

Even if the nodule was not benign, the Pope’s outlook would be “very positive”, Venuta said.

“For a generally healthy person, the prognosis for lung cancer caught at such an early stage -- specifically a pulmonary nodule with no distant spread -- is absolutely favourable,” he said.

- Ella Ide, AFP