Pope Leo XIV has been diagnosed with lung cancer but had successful surgery to remove a lower lobe of his right lung, the Vatican has said in a medical bulletin.
The 71-year-old underwent a90 minute surgery on Tuesday at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital and was subsequently diagnosed with lung adenocarcinoma.
“The operation was successful and there were no complications,” the Vatican said. “After the operation, the Pope awoke normally and returned after a brief period of observation to his room.”
The pontiff had a “peaceful night” in the hospital, the Vatican said on Wednesday morning, where he is expected to remain for about a week.
The lump was first detected during what the Vatican has described as “routine checks”.
Earlier, large crowds waited for hours outside the hospital for the Pope.
They cheered greetings and well wishes as he passed, while he waved and smiled back through the lowered back window of his car.
He was then met by staff on the hospital steps. “I’m sorry,” one of them commiserated, to which the Pope gave a smile and a shrug. “We’re here for you,” he was assured.
In its statement, the Vatican said the whole lower lobe of the Pope’s right lung was removed “to ensure the procedure was radical”.
A Vatican source told the AFP news agency further tests were being carried out to see if there was any sign the cancer had spread.
It was Leo XIV himself who on Sunday announced news of his operation to the world, speaking from the balcony in St Peter’s Square after delivering the traditional Angelus blessing.
He said the nodule, or growth, on his lung was “contained” and had been found “at a very early stage”, but that doctors had advised him to have it removed.
Gemelli’s thoracic surgery team operated on the Pope, whose schedule has already been cleared until 20 October to give him time to recover.
Nodules are quite common and not necessarily cancerous, but after it was examined the medical team confirmed it was pulmonary adenocarcinoma, “as suspected by pre-operative tests”, the Vatican said.
The Vatican has stressed that the pontiff, who is generally thought to be fit, had no symptoms of infection or illness.
Cardinal Kikuchi Tarcisio Isao of Tokyo wrote on social media that he’d had an audience with Pope Leo on Monday, and said the pontiff felt “nothing wrong” physically.
He said the Pope had decided to check in for surgery as soon as possible because he was due to travel to Latin America in early November, and was keen to stick to that plan.
The trip is particularly significant because it includes a visit to Peru, where the pontiff was a missionary and then a Bishop for many years.
Despite all the reassurances, the news has shaken Catholics all over the world.
“Am I worried? Yes, because I certainly wasn’t expecting anything like this,” Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Parolin told journalists on Tuesday.
He agreed that the news was like a “bolt from the blue”, but said the cardinals had been struck by the Pope’s “serenity” and were confident in his recovery.
Outside Gemelli Hospital, which has treated several popes and is home to a large statue of John Paul II, a few Catholics lingered after the pontiff was admitted.
Carla had come specially, wanting to be close.
“He seems calm, so we are calm too – even though illness is always unpleasant,” she told the BBC. “We will wait here and pray.”
“I was in St Peter’s Square when he made the announcement, and I felt really awful,” said Elsa, who was also present. “I was really taken aback,” she said, explaining that when Pope Leo was elected she had thought he was a younger, healthier pontiff.
“It turns out he’s vulnerable too,” she added.
Elise Ann Allen, who wrote a biography of the Pope, told the BBC it would be “premature to be alarmed, but it’s also premature to say everything’s fine”.
She urged against complacency, telling the World Service’s Newsday programme: “We really have to wait and see what the doctors say in the coming days”.
Allen added: “We don’t know how much of a crisis it is at this point, but it’s certainly a scare.” She suggested that the world would see “a more determined Pope after this”.
In the wake of the announcement of Pope Leo’s diagnosis, it emerged that his brother, Louis Prevost, was also being treated for cancer of a different kind.
Prevost was being treated in the US for multiple myeloma, a type of blood cancer, his wife told the BBC’s partner CBS News. His wife did not say what stage Prevost’s cancer had reached.
On the other side of the world, residents of Chiclayo, the northern Peruvian city where Robert Prevost served as bishop for eight years before he became Pope Leo XIV, are praying for his speedy recovery.
Chiclayo is expected to be one of the most emotional stops in the planned tour of Latin America the pontiff – who has Peruvian citizenship – is due to undertake in November.
Officials had announced just a day before the Pope revealed that he would have to undergo surgery that they were expecting 1.5 million people to travel to Chiclayo and the surrounding area to witness his return.
“God willing, we will have him here, because these preparations have been going on for several months – not just on a practical level, but also on a spiritual one,” one retired journalist told AFP news agency.
CC: BBC News