Pope Leo admitted to Rome hospital for surgery to remove lung nodule
The surgery, which is usually performed under general anesthesia, will require a weeklong hospital stay, and the Vatican has cancelled all Pope Leo's audiences through Oct. 20.
Pontiff, 71, is expected to stay in hospital for a week
The Associated Press
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Pope Leo XIV was admitted to Rome's Gemelli hospital on Tuesday ahead of surgery later in the day to remove a lung nodule, an operation that experts say will determine whether the lesion is malignant and if other treatment is needed.
After the quick drive from the Vatican, Leo walked into the hospital through the main entrance and waved to dozens of well-wishers who had gathered to greet him. The Vatican said the surgery would be performed later in the afternoon by a team led by Gemelli's chief thoracic surgeon, Dr. Stefano Margaritora.
The 71-year-old 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, localized nodule during his Sunday noon prayer and announced that he would have it removed.
The surgery, which is usually performed under general anesthesia, will require a weeklong hospital stay and the Vatican on Monday cancelled all Leo's audiences through Oct. 20.
People wait for Pope Leo to arrive at the Agostino Gemelli Polyclinic in Rome ahead of his operation. (Alessandra Tarantino/The Associated Press)
"These are things that can be treated very well, if the words he used reflect the clinical situation," said Dr. Lorenzo Spaggiari, director of thoracic surgery at the European Institute of Oncology (EIO) in Milan, who is not involved in the pope's care but knows the team at Gemelli.
A churchman who saw Leo on Monday, Tokyo Cardinal Kikuchi Tsutomu, said Leo told him he felt fine and decided to have the surgery immediately so that he wouldn't have to alter his upcoming travel plans to Latin America.
But the decision clearly came as a surprise: 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 currently undergoing renovations, according to the Vatican press office.
'A bit of luck'
Leo, elected by the world's cardinals in May 2025, is relatively young for a Church leader. He enjoys sports, including tennis, and is not known to be a smoker or to have had health issues previously.
A nodule on the lung is a small, localized lesion that can be benign. The American Thoracic Society says fewer than five per cent of lung nodules overall prove cancerous, although risk rises with age, size and other factors, such as smoking.
Dr. Federico Venuto, chief of thoracic surgery at Rome's Policlinico Umberto I hospital, said procedures to remove lung nodules are usually minimally invasive, and can sometimes involve use of a thin camera tube called a thoracoscope.
"The complication rate is extremely low," he said.
The nodule was discovered during regular checks, the Vatican has said. Spaggiari, at EIO in Milan, said the pope has likely undergone other tests before being recommended for surgery.
"I think he has had a bit of luck. They found something that was asymptomatic — a lung nodule, possibly a tumour. He might call it something else; we call it luck," he said.
The pontiff is expected to spend a week in hospital after the operation. (Gregorio Borgia/The Associated Press)
November trip to South America
EIO advises patients not to fly for three weeks after surgery, which would give the pope just the interval needed to make his planned Nov. 6-17 trip to Uruguay, Argentina and Peru, depending on his recovery.
The current itinerary for the trip is ambitious and the longest of his papacy to date, calling for Leo to clock just over 31,000 kilometres on a dozen flights and two helicopter rides, and a significant altitude change in Peru.
"I think the Holy Father is in excellent hands at Gemelli," Spaggiari said. "They have everything needed to keep the Holy Father alive for a long time."
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During a visit to Spain’s Canary Islands, Pope Leo urged compassion for migrants and asylum seekers. His comments align with the Spanish government’s plan to grant legal residency to half a million undocumented migrants — making it an outlier in Europe.Kikuchi, the Tokyo archbishop who is also head of the Vatican's charitable federation Caritas Internationalis, said Leo told him he felt no different than usual and was looking ahead to the trip.
"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," Kikuchi wrote on the Facebook page of the Tokyo archdiocese.
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