Pope Leo XIV to Enter Rome Hospital Tuesday for Lung Nodule Surgery
Pope Leo XIV, 71, is due to leave the Vatican late Tuesday morning for Rome's Gemelli hospital, where doctors will remove a small nodule from one of his lungs. All public audiences are canceled through Oct. 20.
VATICAN CITY — Pope Leo XIV is expected to leave the Vatican late Tuesday morning for Rome’s Gemelli hospital, where he will undergo surgery to remove a small nodule from one of his lungs, the Vatican press office said.
The 71-year-old pontiff, who announced the surgery on Sunday, told the crowd gathered in St. Peter’s Square for his weekly Angelus prayer that doctors had found the growth during a recent health check and advised removing it. He described the nodule as “well-contained” and said it had been detected at a very early stage.
The Vatican said the pope’s recovery should take about a week. All of his public audiences have been canceled through Oct. 20, and decisions needing his signature will be placed on hold while he is in the hospital. Vatican offices will otherwise operate as normal, the press office said.
First major health issue of his tenure
Leo, elected by the world’s cardinals in May 2025, is the first pope born in the United States. The operation is the first major health issue of his 17-month tenure. He is generally seen to be in good health and is an active 71-year-old who plays tennis, and Reuters reported he has no known history of health problems and is not known to be a smoker.
He kept his normal schedule on Monday, holding back-to-back morning meetings before joining a gathering of bishops and church leaders at the Vatican, according to CNN. Reuters said he spoke in “a firm, clear voice” at his only public event of the day.
Latin America trip still on the schedule
Leo is due to make an 11-day tour of Uruguay, Argentina and Peru from Nov. 6 to 17. When he announced the surgery on Sunday, he pledged to go forward with the trip.
Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni offered her support to Leo “as he faces this challenge in the coming days,” CNN reported.
Dr. Federico Venuto, chief of thoracic surgery at Rome’s Policlinico Umberto I hospital, told Reuters that operations to remove lung nodules are usually minimally invasive, sometimes done with a thin camera tube called a thoracoscope, and that “the complication rate is extremely low.” The American Thoracic Society says fewer than 5% of lung nodules overall prove cancerous, though risk rises with age, size and factors such as smoking, Reuters reported.
Reporting based on coverage by Reuters and CNN.
