Vatican: Pope Leo XIV Has Lung Cancer, Lower Lobe of Right Lung Removed
Pope Leo XIV underwent surgery that confirmed a diagnosis of lung adenocarcinoma, the Vatican said. The lower lobe of his right lung was removed in a successful operation, and the 71-year-old pontiff is now recovering at Rome's Gemelli hospital.
Pope Leo XIV has lung cancer, the Vatican confirmed after the 71-year-old pontiff underwent surgery to remove the lower lobe of his right lung. The operation, performed at Rome's Gemelli hospital, confirmed a diagnosis of lung adenocarcinoma that preoperative tests had already suspected.
The Vatican described the surgery as successful and said there were no complications. Leo was in the operating room for about three hours, with the procedure itself lasting roughly 90 minutes. He later returned to his room to begin recovery.
The medical bulletin said doctors performed a «radical» removal of the lobe, indicating they took out all suspect tissue in hopes of eliminating any lingering traces of the cancer. Lymph nodes were also removed and tested to determine whether the disease had spread, but those results have not yet been released.
Dr. Stephen Liu, a lung cancer expert at Georgetown's Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, said adenocarcinoma is the most common form of lung cancer and carries the most favorable prognosis. «While we know the diagnosis we now need to know the stage,» Liu said, explaining that doctors must determine the size of the tumor, how many spots in the lung are involved, and whether the lymph nodes are cancerous.
If the cancer has spread, further tests will guide the choice of therapy. Options include chemotherapy, a combination of chemotherapy and immunotherapy, or targeted therapy involving oral pills for specific cancers. The Vatican said doctors are not currently discussing chemotherapy or other treatments pending the results of additional tests.
The pope had walked into Gemelli through the main entrance earlier in the day, waving to dozens of well-wishers gathered outside. The surgery was led by Dr. Stefano Margaritora, the hospital's chief thoracic surgeon.
Leo has offered a rare level of transparency about the first publicly disclosed major health problem of his 17-month papacy. He revealed the discovery of a localized nodule during his Sunday noon prayer and announced he would have it removed. A lung nodule is a small abnormal area measuring less than 3 centimeters that sometimes appears on a CT scan of the chest or abdomen. Such nodules can be benign or malignant, and surgical removal is often recommended both to establish whether it is cancer and to treat a malignancy while it is still localized.
Oncologists said before the operation that even if the nodule proved cancerous, Leo's prognosis would be «excellent» because it would have been removed at an early stage. The right lung is divided into three lobes while the left has two. After one lobe is removed, the remainder of the lung can gradually compensate, especially in otherwise healthy and physically active people. Leo is known to be sporty and in good shape, with weekly tennis games and swimming.
The Vatican canceled all of Leo's audiences through Oct. 20. While Gemelli has a specific papal apartment used by past popes, complete with a private chapel on the 10th floor, Leo will stay in a nearby room because the papal apartment is undergoing renovations.
There was no word on whether the pope will be able to keep his planned trip to South America next month. Oncologists often advise patients not to fly for three weeks after surgery, which would give Leo just the interval needed to make his planned Nov. 6-17 journey to Uruguay, Argentina and Peru, depending on his recovery. The itinerary is the most ambitious of his papacy, calling for just over 31,000 kilometers on a dozen flights and two helicopter rides, with a significant altitude change in Peru.
«He has decided to undergo surgery soon in order to not change his plans for future overseas trips, so there is no need to worry, as it is not an emergency,» said Tokyo Cardinal Kikuchi Tsutomu, who saw Leo on Monday.
This is believed to be the second hospitalization for Leo. As a young missionary priest, he came down with typhoid fever in 1985, soon after arriving in Chulucanas, Peru. The illness and hospitalization became a cathartic moment that led him to remain in the poverty and discomfort of Peru after living in relative comfort in Rome, a decision that ultimately paved the way to his papacy, according to a 2025 interview for «Pope Leo XIV: The Biography.»
In that interview, Leo recalled praying to God to let him die rather than suffer the «horrible» pain of 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,'» he recounted. «Obviously, I survived; I recovered, but it turned out to be a very significant moment for me.»
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