Pope Leo XIV was out of bed, walking and eating normally on Wednesday, the day after surgeons removed the lower lobe of his right lung, his doctors said, though they have not yet said whether the cancer found there has spread.
Dr. Luigi Carbone and Professor Stefano Margaritora, chief of thoracic surgery at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital, said morning blood tests and a chest X-ray showed the 71-year-old pontiff is recovering normally, with values inside the range expected for this type of operation. They said he had begun respiratory physiotherapy, walked around his room and eaten both breakfast and lunch. Matteo Bruni, director of the Holy See Press Office, told journalists that Leo concelebrated Mass on Wednesday afternoon in a room prepared for the purpose on the hospital’s 10th floor.
The operation took place Tuesday. The Vatican said surgeons removed the lower right lobe and that the procedure went well, with no complications. Leo was in the operating room for about three hours, and the surgery itself lasted roughly 90 minutes. A Vatican medical bulletin confirmed a diagnosis of lung adenocarcinoma, the most common type of lung cancer, which preoperative tests had already suggested. The bulletin did not describe a recovery outlook or a course of treatment.
The key unanswered question is whether the disease has spread. Tissue that was removed will be examined in the coming days, and experts have said some of the pope’s lymph nodes would also have been taken out and tested. Those results have not been made public. No date for those results has been given in the material ATN reviewed.
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The schedule so far has not changed. The Vatican has said Leo will stay in the hospital for about a week, and no adjustment to that stay had been communicated by Wednesday.
Leo announced the problem himself on Sunday, during his noon blessing at the Vatican, saying doctors had found a well-localized nodule in his lung during medical checks. He described it as caught at an early stage. The Vatican spokesperson said the surgery would take place in the first days of the week at the Gemelli, where the popes have an apartment on the 10th floor. The pope walked in through the hospital’s main entrance on Tuesday and waved to well-wishers.
Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican secretary of state, told reporters Tuesday that “no one expected” the announcement, adding that he had spoken with Leo the day before and that the conversation was calm. Cardinal Isao Kikuchi of Tokyo, who met the pope on Monday, wrote on Facebook that Leo told him he felt nothing wrong with his body and wanted the operation done quickly so he could recover before a trip to Latin America.
That trip is the immediate practical concern. Leo is scheduled to visit Uruguay, Argentina and Peru in November, in what would be his first tour of the region as pope, with a dozen flights over 11 days. The Vatican has not said whether it will go ahead. Peru’s president has suggested that Leo might have to alter his plans. Oncologists often advise patients not to fly for three weeks after surgery, a window that would leave the pope roughly the time needed if his recovery stays on track. Leo has said he intends to make the journey, and he asked for prayers for the Peru leg in particular.
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Messages of support came from several leaders. President Donald Trump, speaking to reporters in Arizona after a campaign rally, said he wanted to see the pope get well and that the prognosis seemed good. He said, “Get better fast.” Trump added that he had spoken in the past with the pope’s brother, Louis Prevost, whom he called a friend and a Trump supporter. Leo is the first American pope, and his calls for tolerance and protection of migrants have often put the Vatican at odds with the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown and its use of detention camps.
Britain’s King Charles III, who is being treated for an undisclosed cancer, also offered good wishes, and it is understood that he plans to write privately to Leo. Last year the king became the first British monarch to pray publicly with a pope since the Church of England broke with Rome some 500 years ago.
Leo turned 71 on September 14 and was elected on May 8, 2025. He had no known health problems before this month and is known for playing tennis weekly and swimming at the papal summer retreat in Castel Gandolfo. Prayers for his recovery have been offered from Chiclayo, the northern Peruvian city where he served as bishop for eight years, and from Chicago, his hometown.
All of the pope’s audiences through October 20 have been canceled.
