Pope Leo XIV has been diagnosed with lung cancer but had successful surgery to remove a lower lobe of his right lung, the Vatican has said in a medical bulletin.
The 71-year-old underwent a 90-minute surgery on Tuesday at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital and was subsequently diagnosed with lung adenocarcinoma.
“The operation was successful and there were no complications,” the Vatican said. “After the operation, the Pope awoke normally and returned after a brief period of observation to his room.”
The pontiff had a “peaceful night” in the hospital, the Vatican said on Wednesday morning, and he is expected to remain there for about a week.
Large crowds had waited outside the hospital for the Pope’s arrival on Tuesday, cheering as he waved and smiled through a window as his car went past.
He was met by staff on the hospital steps. “I’m sorry,” one of them commiserated, to which the Pope gave a smile and a shrug.
The Vatican said the whole lower lobe of the Pope’s right lung was removed “to ensure the procedure was radical”.
It was Leo XIV himself who on Sunday announced news of his operation to the world during his weekly Sunday prayers, telling the crowd in St Peter’s Square that doctors had found a nodule on his lung.
He reassured pilgrims that the mass was “well-contained” and caught “at an early stage” but that his doctors had advised him to have it removed.
Nodules are quite common and not necessarily cancerous, but after it was examined the medical team confirmed it was, “as suspected by pre-operative tests”, the Vatican said.
A Vatican source told news agency AFP that further tests were now being carried out to see whether the cancer had spread.
The Vatican has stressed that the Pope, who is generally thought to be fit, had no symptoms of infection or illness.
Cardinal Kikuchi Tarcisio Isao of Tokyo said he had had an audience with the pontiff on Monday and that he had felt “nothing wrong” physically.
He said the Pope – whose schedule has been cleared until 20 October to allow him to recover – had decided to check in for surgery as soon as possible because he was keen not to delay a planned trip to Latin America in early November.
The trip is particularly significant because it includes a visit to Peru, where he was a missionary and then a Bishop for many years.
Despite all the reassurances, the news has shaken Catholics worldwide – many of whom will have recent memories of Pope Francis’s hospital visits.
Leo’s predecessor, who died last year, also had part of his lung removed in his youth before suffering a series of respiratory infections later in life.
“Am I worried? Yes, because I certainly wasn’t expecting anything like this,” Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Parolin told journalists on Tuesday.
While the news had been a “bolt from the blue”, the cardinals had been struck by the Pope’s “serenity” and were confident in his recovery, he said.
Outside Gemelli Hospital, which has treated several popes, a few Catholics lingered after the pontiff was admitted, wanting to remain close by.
“He seems calm, so we are calm too – even though illness is always unpleasant,” Carla told the BBC. “We will wait here and pray.”
“I was in St Peter’s Square when he made the announcement and I felt really awful,” said Elsa. She had thought he was a younger, healthier Pope, so had been “really taken aback” by the news.
Elise Ann Allen, who wrote a biography of the Pope, told the BBC that it would be “premature to be alarmed, but it’s also premature to say everything’s fine”.
She urged others to wait to hear from his doctors before jumping to conclusions, telling the World Service’s Newsday programme: “We don’t know how much of a crisis it is at this point, but it’s certainly a scare.”
Since the Pope’s diagnosis, it has emerged that his brother, Louis Prevost, was also being treated for a different kind of cancer – multiple myeloma, a type of blood cancer.
In the northern Peruvian city where the Pope – then Robert Prevost – previously served as bishop for eight years, residents are praying for his speedy recovery.
Chiclayo is expected to be one of the most emotional stops in the pontiff’s Latin America tour.
Officials had announced just a day before the Pope, who has Peruvian citizenship, revealed his surgery that they were expecting 1.5 million people to travel there to witness his return.
“God willing, we will have him here, because these preparations have been going on for several months – not just on a practical level, but also on a spiritual one,” one retired journalist told AFP.
