Vatican: Pope Leo has lung cancer, surgery ‘successful’
Dr Luigi Carbone and Professor Stefano Margaritora said the Pope woke up normally and went back to a room on the tenth floor after a brief period of observation.
Pope Leo XIV has been diagnosed with lung adenocarcinoma, a form of lung cancer, and had the lower lobe of the right lung removed in a “successful” operation, the Vatican has said.
The Holy See Press Office statement, issued on 13 October in the names of Dr Luigi Carbone and Professor Stefano Margaritora, said there were no complications. It added that the “intraoperative histological examination confirmed the diagnosis of lung adenocarcinoma, as suspected by the pre-operative tests”.
Cancer Research UK describes adenocarcinoma as a type of non small cell lung cancer that starts in the mucus-making gland cells in the lining of the airways. The statement did not give a stage for the cancer, say whether further treatment is planned or describe the Pope’s prognosis.
The doctors said the lower lobe was removed using a video-assisted technique. The Pope spent about three hours in the operating theatre, of which the operation itself took about 90 minutes.
After a brief period of observation, the Pope returned to a room on the tenth floor, having woken up normally. Margaritora led the surgical team. The anaesthesia team consisted of Professor Massimo Antonelli, Dr Giovanni Punzo and Dr Giuseppe Bello.
Vatican News, which reported the statement, said the operation took place at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital. Afterwards the Pope asked for dinner and spent the evening with secretaries and other Vatican staff, according to Matteo Bruni, director of the press office.
Exams are due on the removed tissue in the coming days, and the press office was expected on 14 October to update on how the Pope spent the night and on any results. No change has been communicated to the hospital stay of about a week, which Bruni confirmed on 12 October.
Leo first announced the operation on 11 October, at the end of the Angelus prayer in St Peter’s Square, saying that doctors had found a “small, localized nodule” in the lung that was “well-localized”.
Bruni told journalists on 12 October that the nodule had been found in routine examinations. The Pope was admitted to the hospital on 13 October, and all papal audiences have been cancelled through 20 October, according to the Prefecture of the Papal Household.
