Vatican: Pope Leo XIV's Lung Tumor Was Localized and Requires No Further Treatment
The Holy See announced that final histological and molecular tests confirmed the tumor removed from Pope Leo XIV was a localized pulmonary adenocarcinoma. An oncological assessment found no additional therapy is needed, clearing the way for his planned apostolic journey to South America in November.
The Vatican announced that Pope Leo XIV will not need any additional treatment after surgery to remove a lung tumor, confirming that the disease was localized. The Holy See Press Office released the definitive histological and molecular biology results on Wednesday evening, eight days after the operation.
The official bulletin, signed by Dr. Luigi Carbone, the pontiff's personal physician, and Professor Stefano Margaritora, head of the thoracic surgery team that performed the procedure, stated that the condition was a pulmonary adenocarcinoma and that the disease was localized. A subsequent oncological evaluation confirmed that no further therapy is required.
The 71-year-old pope underwent a roughly 90-minute video-assisted operation on Tuesday, October 13, at Rome's Gemelli Polyclinic. Surgeons removed the lower lobe of his right lung, where the tumor had been located. The intraoperative histological examination had already confirmed the diagnosis suspected in preoperative studies, but the definitive prognosis depended on complete analysis of the removed tissue.
The wait carried enormous weight. Had the disease spread beyond the excised area, the pope would have faced complementary therapies such as chemotherapy, radiotherapy or immunotherapy, with predictable effects on his health and the pace of his pontificate. The confirmation that the disease was localized rules out that possibility.
The announcement capped a day that was already significant. Earlier on Wednesday, Leo XIV presided over his first general audience since the operation, traveling through St. Peter's Square in the popemobile for the first time since surgery. He greeted pilgrims under light drizzle and opened his catechesis by giving thanks for the prayers he received during his illness. «Let us all renew our trust in the goodness and mercy of God,» he said, hours before the Vatican made public the result that cleared his immediate medical horizon.
The pope had been discharged from the Gemelli hospital on Saturday, October 17, after five days of treatment. On Sunday he reappeared at the window of the Apostolic Palace to pray the Angelus before an estimated 15,000 people, announcing that he would gradually resume his activities.
The confirmation that no additional therapy is needed also strengthens prospects for the pope's upcoming apostolic journey to Uruguay, Argentina and Peru, scheduled for November 6 to 17. The Vatican has kept the trip on the agenda throughout the process. Margaritora had already indicated days earlier that, from a clinical standpoint, he saw no reason to prevent the journey. The favorable course of the convalescence, estimated at about ten days, and the results announced on Wednesday point in the same direction, though the pontiff's schedule will continue to be confirmed step by step.
Since Leo XIV himself announced his operation after the Angelus on October 11, parishes, communities and faithful around the world have prayed for his health. The answer to those prayers came in the form of a medical bulletin: the tumor was localized, was completely removed, and nothing further is required.
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