{"id":878596,"date":"2026-10-11T13:24:12","date_gmt":"2026-10-11T13:24:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/878596\/"},"modified":"2026-10-11T13:24:12","modified_gmt":"2026-10-11T13:24:12","slug":"pope-leo-says-he-will-undergo-surgery-to-remove-a-nodule-on-his-lung","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/878596\/","title":{"rendered":"Pope Leo says he will undergo surgery to remove a nodule on his lung"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pope Leo XIV<\/a> announced Sunday that he will undergo surgery to remove an early-stage nodule on his lung.<\/p>\n

The Vatican said the procedure was planned for this week.<\/p>\n

\u201cRecently, during some medical tests, doctors discovered a localized nodule in my lung,\u201d the American pontiff, 71, said during his noon prayer at St. Peter\u2019s Square.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was detected at a very early stage and is well localized,\u201d Leo said from the window of the Apostolic Palace. \u201cThe doctors believe it is best to intervene, so, following their advice, I have decided to undergo surgery to have it removed.\u201d<\/p>\n

The pontiff said that surgery had already been scheduled \u201cfor the coming days,\u201d and thanked onlookers for their support.<\/p>\n

\u201cI entrust myself to your prayers,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The news drew applause from the thousands gathered in the square, before he wished the crowd a \u201chappy Sunday.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said in a statement that \u201cthe operation is scheduled for the first days of this week and the estimated post-operative recovery time will be about one week.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leo announced the surgery at the end of his regular address, in which he appealed for an end to the war in Ukraine and the safe transport of grain across the Black Sea.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe daily bread of millions of people cannot be held hostage by war,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Leo has no previously known health problems and is known to be physically active, including weekly games of tennis.<\/p>\n

The pontiff has a major trip scheduled to visit Uruguay, Argentina and Peru in November. It\u2019s unclear whether the planned surgery and recovery would affect the itinerary.<\/p>\n

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni wished Leo well.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would like to express to the Holy Father my personal support, and that of the Italian government, as he faces this challenge in the coming days,\u201d she said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe serenity and composure with which he spoke about it (today) …are reassuring,\u201d Meloni added.<\/p>\n

Born Robert Francis Prevost, he became the first American pope when he was appointed in 2025.<\/p>\n

Originally from the South Side of Chicago, he spent much of his career ministering in Peru and leading the Vatican\u2019s powerful office of bishops.<\/p>\n

Leo\u2019s father, Louis Prevost, served in the Navy during World War II and worked as a superintendent of schools in the south suburbs of Chicago. His mother, Mildred Martinez Prevost, was a librarian with a master\u2019s degree in education and two sisters who were nuns.<\/p>\n

Leo\u2019s predecessor, Pope Francis, died of a stroke last April at age 88 after a long hospitalization following a number of health issues.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pope Leo XIV announced Sunday that he will undergo surgery to remove an early-stage nodule on his lung.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":878597,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4,450,451,3,452,453],"class_list":["post-878596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878596","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=878596"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878596\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/878597"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=878596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=878596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=878596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}