Vatican issues update on Pope Leo’s lung nodule surgery and recovery

The surgery got under way as medical staff recited the Rosary prayer in the hospital chapel Tuesday evening

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Pope Leo XIV is recovering at the hospital after a “successful” surgery to remove a lung nodule, the Vatican said in an update.

Leo arrived at the hospital earlier Tuesday after a brief drive from the Vatican. He entered the hospital through its main entrance and greeted dozens of well-wishers who had assembled to see him. The procedure was conducted by a surgical team headed by Gemelli’s chief thoracic surgeon, Dr. Stefano Margaritora.

Medical personnel gathered in the hospital chapel to recite the Rosary prayer while the operation was underway. Opening the prayer service, the Vicar of Rome, Cardinal Baldassare Reina, addressed the gathering, saying: “Let us join together in prayer, asking the Lord to sustain our bishop, Pope Leo, and to comfort all those who are hospitalized here.”

Medical experts in oncology said that even if the tissue was determined to be cancerous, the pontiff's prognosis remains "excellent" because the intervention occured at an early stage.

The procedure, typically conducted under general anesthesia, requires a hospital stay of about a week. The Vatican said Monday that all scheduled audiences for the pope have been canceled through Oct. 20.

The timing of the intervention appears to have caught officials somewhat off-guard. Though Gemelli maintains a dedicated papal apartment on its 10th floor equipped with a private chapel, ongoing renovations mean the pope is being accommodated in a neighboring room instead, according to the Vatican press office.

The Vatican said the nodule was identified during a routine medical exam.

“I think he has had a bit of luck. They found something that was asymptomatic — a lung nodule, possibly a tumor. He might call it something else; we call it luck,” Dr. Spaggiari said.

The surgery marks what is understood to be only the second hospitalization for the pope, who maintains an active lifestyle that includes weekly games of tennis and swimming.

In the biography, the pope recalled praying for relief from the intense suffering caused by the fever: “I was hooked up to an IV, and I said, ‘If this is your sense of humor, Lord, I think you could do a little better.’