Pope Leo XIV has successful lung surgery at Gemelli

OSV News reported the statement came out shortly before 8pm Rome time, which was about 4:30am Wednesday in Adelaide. Associated Press carried the same confirmation, that the operation was completed "successfully, on schedule and as planned."

The statement is short. It doesn't give pathology results, describe the surgical technique, or set a discharge date.

How the day unfolded

Pope Leo arrived at the Agostino Gemelli University Hospital at 1:07pm, Vatican News reported, as people waiting outside applauded and called out greetings. AP reported he walked in through the main entrance and waved to dozens of well-wishers.

The Holy See Press Office said the operation would be carried out by the hospital's thoracic surgery team, led by Professor Stefano Margaritora. OSV News reported the surgery took place in the late afternoon.

As it got under way, medical staff and visitors prayed the Rosary in the hospital chapel. The Vicar of Rome, Cardinal Baldassare Reina, opened the prayer. "Let us join together in prayer, asking the Lord to sustain our bishop, Pope Leo, and to comfort all those who are hospitalized here," he said, according to AP.

OSV News described the chapel as overflowing. Sister Alphonsa Manikkathan, of the Daughters of Divine Providence, told OSV, "We pray for the pope every day, not only today."

"If the pope is suffering, we also suffer with him," said Father Miguel Silvestre Bengoa from Spain. "But we want also to see him again in the Vatican."

AP reported that Gemelli's dedicated papal apartment on the 10th floor, with its private chapel, is being renovated, so the Pope is staying in a nearby room, according to the Vatican press office.

How the Pope told the world

Leo announced the surgery himself, at the end of his Angelus address in St Peter's Square on Sunday 11 October. OSV News reported he said the nodule was found during a medical examination, was detected "at a very early stage," and was "well-contained."

"The doctors believe intervention is advisable, so, following their advice, I have decided to undergo surgery to have it removed," Pope Leo said.

On Monday, Press Office director Matteo Bruni told journalists the nodule had been found during routine medical examinations, Vatican News reported. He confirmed the hospital stay was expected to last about a week. The Prefecture of the Papal Household cancelled all audiences through 20 October.

We reported the lead-up in Pope Leo's lung nodule surgery plans.

AP noted the Pope has been unusually open about what is the first publicly disclosed major health problem of his 17-month papacy.

What doctors outside the case say

The Vatican hasn't said whether the nodule was cancerous. AP spoke to Dr Lorenzo Spaggiari, director of thoracic surgery at the European Institute of Oncology in Milan. He is not involved in the Pope's care but knows the Gemelli team.

"These are things that can be treated very well, if the words he used reflect the clinical situation," Spaggiari said.

He said he expected the Gemelli team to do a biopsy to find out whether it is lung cancer, then remove the section or lobe of the lung where the nodule sits, possibly using robotic, minimally invasive techniques. AP noted it was not known for certain which technique would be used.

Spaggiari said doctors would also remove the lymph nodes that drain that part of the lung. "If all those lymph nodes turn out to be negative, so stage one, then the outlook is very good," he said, adding no other treatment would then be needed.

"I think he has had a bit of luck," he said. "They found something that was asymptomatic." "He might call it something else," he added. "We call it luck."

AP reported oncologists say that even if the nodule proves cancerous, the Pope's prognosis is "excellent" because it was removed early. AP explains that a lung nodule is a small abnormal area under 3 centimetres across, which can be benign or malignant.

Those are outside expert views, not a Vatican diagnosis. Results on the tissue have not been published.

The South America trip

The big diary question is November. Leo is scheduled to visit Uruguay, Argentina and Peru from 6 to 17 November, the longest international trip of his pontificate. OSV News reported the Vatican has not announced any changes.

AP reported the itinerary calls for just over 31,000 kilometres on a dozen flights and two helicopter rides, with a significant altitude change in Peru. Spaggiari's institute advises patients not to fly for three weeks after surgery, which AP said would give the Pope just enough time, depending on his recovery.

Tokyo's Cardinal Isao Kikuchi met the Pope on 12 October. In a social media post quoted by OSV News, he wrote, "He assured me that this is a minor operation and he feels nothing wrong with his body, and he said he had decided to go for the operation as soon as possible not to change his plan of Latin America visit."

"We have to keep Holy Father in our prayers," the cardinal said.

His only other hospital stay

AP and OSV News report this is only the second time Leo has been hospitalised. The first was in 1985, when as a young Augustinian missionary in Chulucanas, Peru, he caught typhoid fever.

"It's the only time in my life I've been hospitalized," he said in Elise Ann Allen's 2025 biography, Pope Leo XIV, as quoted by OSV News.

AP quoted the same book on how he coped. "I was hooked up to an IV, and I said, 'If this is your sense of humor, Lord, I think you could do a little better.'"

What happens next

The Press Office has promised further information. The next updates should cover how the Pope is recovering, when he might be discharged, and whether the November trip goes ahead as planned.

OSV News reports that prayers and messages of support have come in from around the world since Sunday, from prime ministers, presidents, religious leaders and Catholic bishops.

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