Pope Leo XIV Walks and Eats Normally After Lung Cancer Surgery

Pope Leo XIV is walking in his room at Rome’s Gemelli hospital, eating breakfast and lunch, and undergoing respiratory physiotherapy after surgery on 13 October 2026. Doctors removed the lower lobe of his right lung after tests confirmed a cancerous nodule. The diagnosis is lung adenocarcinoma, the most common form of lung cancer. Blood tests and a chest X-ray on 14 October showed values within the expected range for the procedure. The Vatican said recovery is proceeding as planned.

The operation lasted about 90 minutes and was successful with no immediate complications. The 71-year-old pontiff spent a peaceful first night in hospital. He concelebrated Mass in a private chapel at the hospital on the evening of 14 October. All public engagements have been cancelled until 20 October. Doctors are awaiting further test results to determine whether additional treatment is required. The Vatican has not indicated that chemotherapy is currently planned.

The discovery of the cancerous growth has placed the Catholic Church in a period of uncertainty. Senior clergy and Catholics worldwide offered prayers. An open-air Mass in St Peter’s Square included a prayer for the pope’s recovery. Peruvian officials noted that a planned visit to Peru starting in mid-November could be delayed depending on the pace of convalescence. Augustinian Father John Lydon, a longtime friend of the pope, said he was confident in the medical team.

The right lung has three lobes; removal of the lower lobe is a standard approach when the disease is localised. Experts outside the Vatican said that if the cancer is stage I or II and recovery remains smooth, normal activity can resume within weeks. The pope’s personal physician, Dr Luigi Carbone, and thoracic surgeon Dr Stefano Margaritora signed the medical updates. The hospital room is on the tenth floor, adjacent to a papal suite that is being refurbished.

This is Leo XIV’s first hospitalisation since his election. The Vatican bureaucracy is designed to continue functioning when the pope is temporarily unable to carry out public duties. No further medical bulletins on staging or lymph-node involvement have been released. The next scheduled updates will cover the results of additional pathology tests and the expected length of the hospital stay, currently estimated at about one week.