Pope Leo XIV’s surgery confirms early lung cancer

What the doctors said

Pope Leo XIV underwent thoracic surgery at Gemelli Hospital on Tuesday afternoon, October 13, as planned. A statement from Dr. Luigi Carbone and Professor Stefano Margaritora, released by the Holy See Press Office, said that “to ensure a radical procedure, the lower lobe of the right lung was removed using a video-assisted technique.”

The doctors also confirmed what earlier tests had suggested. “The intraoperative histological examination confirmed the diagnosis of lung adenocarcinoma, as suspected by the pre-operative tests,” the statement said.

The Pope was in the operating theatre for about three hours. The operation itself lasted about ninety minutes. “The operation was successful and there were no complications,” the doctors said.

Professor Margaritora, Gemelli’s director of thoracic surgery, led the surgical team. He was assisted by Professor Elisa Meacci, Dr. Maria Teresa Congedo and Dr. Leonardo Petracca Ciavarella. The anaesthesia team was Professor Massimo Antonelli, Dr. Giovanni Punzo and Dr. Giuseppe Bello.

Awake, and asking for dinner

After the operation, the Pope “woke up normally,” the statement said. After a brief period of observation he returned to his room on the hospital’s tenth floor. According to Matteo Bruni, Director of the Holy See Press Office, Pope Leo asked for dinner and spent the evening with his secretaries and other Vatican staff.

Vatican News reports that further examinations of the removed tissue will be carried out in the coming days. No change has been announced to the expected hospital stay of about one week. The Press Office is expected to give an update on Wednesday morning.

What comes next

The Prefecture of the Papal Household has cancelled all audiences and public events until October 20. Before the surgery, Cardinal Tarcisio Isao Kikuchi of Tokyo told La Repubblica that the Pope did not want to cancel his planned November 6–17 journey to Uruguay, Argentina and Peru, and so chose to be treated straight away.

The meeting marking ten years since Amoris laetitia will not publish its final report. Cardinals Kevin Farrell and Mario Grech said in a joint statement: “Once the Holy Father has completed his convalescence, we will present to him the results of the assembly, which he is awaiting.”

A Church at prayer

On Tuesday evening, Cardinal Baldassare Reina, the Pope’s Vicar for Rome, led the Rosary in the hospital’s chapel, and parishes across Rome were invited to pray at the same hour. Masses were offered in the Pope’s hometown of Chicago and in Chiclayo, Peru, his former diocese.

Prayers have come from across the Christian world. Patriarch Daniel of the Romanian Orthodox Church wrote to the Pope on Monday: “We pray to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Physician of our souls and bodies, to heal Your Holiness’s suffering and to grant you health, so that you may continue your pastoral and missionary ministry.”

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Sarah Mullally (@ArchbishopSarah), wrote on X: “I will be holding Pope Leo XIV in my prayers over these coming days, asking for God’s protection, closeness and care.” Patriarch Paul III Nona of the Chaldean Catholic Church asked his faithful in Iraq and around the world to pray for “a full and speedy recovery.”

“We pray to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Physician of our souls and bodies, to heal Your Holiness’s suffering and to grant you health.”

Patriarch Daniel of Romania · letter to Pope Leo XIV, Oct 12, 2026

An invitation to prayer

Before his surgery, the Pope said simply: “I thank you for your spiritual closeness and entrust myself to your prayers.” St. James tells the Church what to do when one of its members is sick: call the elders, and pray. This week, VRSZ invites its readers, East and West, to do just that. Pray for Pope Leo, for his doctors and nurses, and for all who live with cancer.

Read it for yourself

Open VRSZ, tap James 5:14, and read what the Fathers said about prayer and anointing for the sick.