Pope Leo XIV Returns to Vatican Window for Angelus After Lung Cancer Surgery
Pope Leo XIV made his first public appearance since lung cancer surgery, leading the Angelus from the Apostolic Palace and thanking Catholics worldwide for their prayers.
Pope Leo XIV returned to the window of the Vatican's Apostolic Palace on Sunday, leading the Angelus prayer in St. Peter's Square five days after undergoing surgery to remove the lower lobe of his right lung. It was his first public appearance since being discharged from Rome's Gemelli Hospital the previous day, and thousands gathered below cheered as he waved.
«I would like to thank all those who have prayed for me in recent days. I have truly sensed your support,» the pope said after leading the crowd in the Marian prayer. «This experience has made me feel particularly close to all those who are living with illness or infirmity. Now that I have overcome this delicate phase, as you know, I will gradually resume my activities, always with God's help and your prayers.»
The pope expressed particular gratitude to the doctors, nurses and staff at Gemelli Hospital, where he underwent the 90-minute operation on Oct. 13. He was discharged on Oct. 17, earlier than the Holy See Press Office had originally indicated, after his medical team deemed him fit to return to the Vatican.
Dr. Stefano Margaritora, the chief thoracic surgeon at Gemelli who led the operation, said the pope was in «entirely satisfactory clinical condition» at the time of discharge and that the lung's re-expansion was proceeding according to the usual timetable. He estimated that a complete physical recovery typically takes a couple of weeks, and said that with nearly a week already passed, the pope could be fully recovered in about ten days.
Margaritora also said he saw no clinical reason why the pope's planned trip to South America, scheduled for Nov. 6-17, should not take place. «As for a long trip involving air travel in about three weeks, I would say there are no clinical reasons why it should not take place,» the surgeon told Vatican News. He described Pope Leo as «an ideal patient» who was «always serene, always smiling, and rarely complained» despite the pain that inevitably follows such an operation.
The surgeon recalled that two days after surgery, hospital staff found the pope arranging chairs in the chapel so that he could celebrate Mass. When they offered to do it for him, he replied, «It doesn't matter. I can do it, so I will.»
In St. Peter's Square, pilgrims described the moment with emotion. Ylenia Casati, 32, from Siena, said she almost started crying. «Today was the first Angelus right after his hospitalization, and I wanted and needed to see him, and to be reassured by hearing him and seeing that he was doing well,» she said. Her friend Ilaria Beatrice, 31, from Prato, described the square as «full of passion, full of love, of excitement.» «To turn around and see people clapping, crying, and cheering — it gives you so much strength,» she said.
In his address, the pope marked the 100th anniversary of World Mission Sunday, praying that the Church may always remain faithful to the Risen Lord's mandate to «go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation.» Before praying the Angelus in Latin, he reflected on the Sunday Gospel in which Jesus says, «Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.»
Pope Leo said the passage reveals «a God who is not afraid of history but comes instead to dwell within it,» and whose Kingdom «does not abolish human roles and responsibilities» but calls believers to live «without compromise, free from selfish ambitions and unjust motives.» He described Jesus' teaching as a command «to be truthful, free from servile fear or hypocrisy, free to do good,» and entrusted those gathered to the intercession of the Virgin Mary.
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