Pope Leo XIV diagnosed with lung cancer after surgery

Pope Leo XIV has been diagnosed with cancer following an operation to remove the lower lobe of his right lung, the Vatican said in a medical bulletin. Tests confirmed the condition as lung adenocarcinoma, a diagnosis doctors had suspected before the surgery. The Vatican did not give further details about his expected recovery or any planned treatment.

According to a Vatican statement issued on Tuesday, the operation took 90 minutes and went well, with no complications reported. The 71-year-old pontiff has returned to his room at Rome's Gemelli hospital, where he is expected to remain for about a week to recover. All his scheduled audiences until October 20 have been cancelled.

The Vatican said doctors are not yet considering chemotherapy or other treatments, as they are awaiting results from further tests. The Holy See's press office said the bulletin's reference to a radical removal of the lobe suggested that surgeons had taken out all suspect tissue in an effort to eliminate any remaining traces of the disease.

Before undergoing the procedure, Pope Leo greeted a group of well-wishers who had gathered outside the hospital's main entrance. He had first disclosed that doctors had found a small nodule during his Sunday noon prayer address in St Peter's Square, in an unusually open update on his health.