Pope pictured for first time since surgery as he says Mass at makeshift altar in hospital

Pope Leo XIV has been pictured celebrating Mass from hospital, in the first images of him released by the Vatican since he underwent lung surgery.

The 71-year-old pontiff was diagnosed with lung cancer after the surgery at Rome's Gemelli Hospital on Tuesday afternoon, which the Vatican said had been "successful" and proceeded without complications.

The images shared on Friday showed the Chicago-born Pope wearing a green robe while standing behind a makeshift altar on the tenth floor of the hospital.

Pope Leo "celebrated with the medical and nursing staff" and thanked workers for their service, the Vatican press office said.

On Friday, the Pope's doctors said tests had shown "a steady improvement in his general condition" since his procedure.

His doctors said that a chest X-ray indicated "good recovery of the operated lung".

The whole lower lobe of the Pope's right lung was removed "to ensure the procedure was radical", the Vatican said following the surgery.

"After the operation, the Pope awoke normally and returned after a brief period of observation to his room," it said earlier, before he spent a "peaceful night" at the hospital.

Pope Leo first announced that he would be having the operation during his weekly Sunday prayers, telling the crowd in St Peter's Square that doctors had found a "well-contained" nodule on his lung "at an early stage" and 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. He was diagnosed with lung adenocarcinoma.

The Vatican has stressed that the Pope had shown no symptoms of infection or illness prior to the procedure.