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<\/p>\nPope Leo XIV underwent surgery Wednesday that confirmed that he has lung cancer, and doctors removed the lower lobe of his right lung, the Vatican said.<\/p>\n
The tests confirmed a diagnosis of lung adenocarcinoma, the Vatican said in a medical bulletin after the surgery. It said the diagnosis had been suspected by preoperative tests and was confirmed during surgery.<\/p>\n
The statement made no mention of treatment going forward, and the Vatican said doctors were not currently speaking of chemotherapy or other therapies. The Vatican press office noted the medical statement spoke of the “radical” removal of the lobe as an indication that doctors removed all suspect tissue in hopes of removing any lingering traces of the cancer.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Pope Leo XIV arrives at the Agostino Gemelli Polyclinic in Rome on Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2026, where doctors expect to remove a lung nodule. (Source: Associated Press)<\/p>\n
The 71-year-old was in the operating room for about three hours, the statement said. The surgery itself lasted approximately 90 minutes. “The surgery was successful, and there were no complications,” the statement said.<\/p>\n
Leo had walked into Rome\u2019s Gemelli hospital through the main entrance earlier in the day and waved to dozens of well-wishers who had gathered to greet him. The Vatican said the surgery would be performed by a team led by Gemelli\u2019s chief thoracic surgeon, Dr. Stefano Margaritora.<\/p>\n
The American pontiff has offered a rare level of transparency about the first publicly disclosed major health problem of his 17-month papacy. He revealed the discovery of the small, localised nodule during his Sunday noon prayer and announced that he would have it removed.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
Pope Leo XIV arrives at the Agostino Gemelli Polyclinic in Rome on Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2026, where doctors expect to remove a lung nodule. (Source: Associated Press)<\/p>\n
Oncologists said prior to the operation that even if the nodule turned out to be cancerous, Leo\u2019s prognosis is “excellent” since it will have been removed at an early stage.<\/p>\n
The Vatican on Monday cancelled all Leo\u2019s audiences through October 20.<\/p>\n
While Gemelli has a specific papal apartment that past popes have used, complete with a private chapel on the 10th floor, Leo will actually be staying in a nearby room since the papal apartment is undergoing renovations, according to the Vatican press office.<\/p>\n
Recovery could allow November travel to South America<\/p>\n
There was no word on whether Leo would be able to keep his planned trip to South America next month.<\/p>\n
Oncologists often advise patients not to fly for three weeks after surgery \u2014 which would give the pope just the interval needed to make his planned November 6-17 trip to Uruguay, Argentina and Peru, depending on his recovery.<\/p>\n
![\"Pope](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/pope-leo-xiv-arrives-at-the-agostino-gemelli-polyclinic-in-r-UBKHDB65RBFUHM25NBHP44CDQ4.png\")
<\/p>\n
Pope Leo XIV arrives at the Agostino Gemelli Polyclinic in Rome on Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2026, where doctors expect to remove a lung nodule. (Source: Associated Press)<\/p>\n
The current itinerary for the trip is ambitious and the longest of his papacy to date, calling for Leo to clock just over 31,000km on a dozen flights and two helicopter rides, and a significant altitude change in Peru.<\/p>\n
“He has decided to undergo surgery soon in order to not change his plans for future overseas trips, so there is no need to worry, as it is not an emergency,\u201d said Tokyo Cardinal Kikuchi Tsutomu, who saw Leo on Monday.<\/p>\n
A lung nodule is a small abnormal area measuring less than 3cm that sometimes appears on a CT scan of the chest or abdomen. Often, the scans are done to investigate trauma or a lung infection, unrelated to a lung cancer screening. A nodule can be benign or malignant, and oftentimes surgical removal is recommended both to establish whether it is cancer and to treat a malignancy while it is still localized.<\/p>\n
Pope was hospitalised for typhoid fever in 1985<\/p>\n
This is believed to be the second hospitalization for Leo, who is known to be sporty and in good shape, with weekly tennis games and swimming.<\/p>\n
As a young missionary priest, he came down with typhoid fever in 1985, soon after arriving in Chulucanas, Peru. The illness and hospitalisation were a cathartic moment for him to decide to stay in the poverty and discomfort of Peru after living in relative comfort in Rome \u2014 a decision that ultimately paved the way to his papacy, according to an interview Leo gave to Elise Ann Allen in 2025 for \u201cPope Leo XIV: The Biography.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to the book, Leo said he prayed to God to let him die rather than suffer the “horrible” pain of the fever. “I was hooked up to an IV, and I said, ‘If this is your sense of humour, Lord, I think you could do a little better’.<\/p>\n
“Obviously, I survived; I recovered, but it turned out to be a very significant moment for me, because it was like, \u2019Well, you\u2019ve already dealt with the illness; you already see what the needs are here \u2014 the order, the Augustinians, the church are telling you, ‘We need you here; go for it’. I never looked back.” <\/p>\n
The morning’s headlines in 90 seconds, including why a summer of cyclones could be on the way, and 911 audio shows confusion in the wake of a botched execution. (Source: Breakfast)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pope Leo XIV underwent surgery Wednesday that confirmed that he has lung cancer, and doctors removed the lower…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":629992,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,134,43,12477,40,38,41,39,1745],"class_list":["post-629991","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-health","tag-news","tag-religion","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-uk-europe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/629991","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=629991"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/629991\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/629992"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=629991"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=629991"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=629991"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}