Pope Leo XIV will be discharged from the hospital on Saturday after undergoing surgery to remove a cancerous nodule from his right lung, the Vatican said, and will make an appearance to lead prayer on Sunday. He was expected to recite the Angelus prayer from the window of the papal apartment at St. Peter’s Basilica on Sunday, according to the statement.
The pontiff’s personal doctor, Dr. Luigi Carbone, and the head of thoracic surgery at Gemelli Hospital, Dr. Stefano Margaritora, said that in light of blood tests and a chest X-ray performed Saturday morning, and after an assessment of his clinical condition, “the Holy Father has been deemed fit for discharge from the hospital.” So far, Leo’s doctors have given no indication that the pontiff might need any further treatment.
And the Vatican has not indicated whether the cancer might have spread. Leo, who is a Chicago native, resumed working from the hospital on Thursday, his doctors and the Vatican reported. The Vatican on Friday released the first images of Leo since his surgery, showing him celebrating Mass inside the hospital, as doctors said that tests confirmed the “continued improvement” in his recovery.
The photos show Leo standing up at the altar in green vestments celebrating Mass in a makeshift chapel that has been set up for him. Spokesman Matteo Bruni said he presided alone over the liturgy, distributed Communion to medical personnel and Vatican gendarmes present and delivered a homily. His discharge from the hospital comes less than a month before Leo is scheduled to jet off for a two-week trip to South America, which is set to start Nov. 11.
Peruvian President Keiko Fujimori, in an interview on Peruvian television, said the pace of the pope’s recovery could determine whether Leo makes his weeklong apostolic visit to Peru. Leo was diagnosed with adenocarcinoma, a type of non-small cell lung cancer, after doctors examined the nodule they had removed from his right lung. Non-small cell lung cancer accounts for 80% of all cases of the disease, according to the American Lung Association.
This type of cancer affects both smokers and nonsmokers, although Leo is not known to ever have been a smoker. The initial lump was detected during a routine check, the Vatican has said. The leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics took the rare step of revealing the health issue — the first of his papacy — during his Sunday noon prayer last week.
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