Pope Leo XIV is admitted to Rome's Gemelli General Hospital for surgery to remove a lung nodule. The hospitalization is scheduled for late this morning, and the expected recovery time in the hospital is about a week.
This is the Pope's first hospitalization since he became head of the Roman Catholic Church in May 2025. Leo XIV personally announced the upcoming surgery after the Sunday Angelus prayer. According to him, during recent medical examinations, doctors have discovered a “localized nodule in my lung“, established “at a very early stage and well-limited“. He added that doctors consider the operation necessary and have already scheduled it.
At the Gemelli hospital, the pope will be accommodated in a special apartment on the top floor. The room has a small chapel, a kitchen and a meeting room where the medical council will meet.
Doctors expect a quick recovery
Dr. Marco Scarci, a specialist in thoracic surgery in the UK, describes the intervention as “not particularly risky“. According to him, the pope should recover quickly, but it may take him up to three months to regain his physical form.
Most lung nodules are benign, but a small percentage of them can be an early sign of lung cancer. Professor Franco Ventura, head of the thoracic surgery department at the Umberto I hospital in Rome, explains that on an X-ray or CT scan, the nodule can look like a coin.
“In a person in good general health, the prognosis for lung cancer detected at such an early stage, in this case a pulmonary nodule without metastases, is extremely favorable”, Ventura said. He specified that the final assessment depends on the nature of the tumor and the results of medical tests.
Public engagements canceled
Because of the operation, Leo XIV has canceled all his engagements until October 20. For now, his planned official visit to Latin America from November 6 to 17 remains, during which he is to visit Uruguay, Argentina and Peru.
According to Professor Ventura, after such surgical interventions it is usually recommended to avoid air travel for about 20 days, although there may be some flexibility for the specific patient. The Vatican has not announced any changes to the schedule of the upcoming trip.
Sources: bta.bg, apnews.com, vaticannews.va