Pope Leo XIV is set to be discharged from a Rome hospital on Saturday, just four days after undergoing surgery to remove a cancerous tumour from his right lung, the Vatican announced.
The 71-year-old pontiff has been recovering at the Gemelli hospital in Rome since Tuesday, when doctors performed a procedure to extract the malignant growth. In a medical bulletin, doctors Luigi Carbone and Stefano Margaritora stated that following blood tests, a chest X-ray, and a clinical evaluation, the Holy Father has been deemed fit for discharge.
According to the Vatican, Pope Leo will leave the hospital in the early afternoon and return to the Vatican. On Sunday, he is scheduled to recite the Angelus prayer from the window of the papal apartment, overlooking St. Peter’s Square. While the prayer is typically delivered from the Apostolic Palace, past popes, including John Paul II and Francis, have also delivered the Angelus from their hospital windows during recoveries at Gemelli.
The Vatican press office confirmed that the pope celebrated Mass on Saturday in a room on the 10th floor of the hospital, continuing his regular spiritual routine during his stay.
Outside the hospital, faithful gathered to pray for the Pope’s recovery. Among them was 12-year-old Varvara Struck from Ukraine, a former cancer patient who met the pope in Rome last year. “With his support, I’ve now overcome my illness, and I want to give him my positive energy so that he, too, can overcome his illness as quickly as possible,” she said.
Faithful pray for Pope Leo after lung cancer diagnosis
Up in air
The news of the Pope’s lung cancer diagnosis has sent shockwaves through the Vatican and the global Catholic community of over 1.4 billion believers. However, doctors have assured that his recovery is progressing normally while they await further test results to determine the next steps in his treatment.
In a show of continued leadership, Pope Leo made a call on Friday to Russian President Vladimir Putin, urging a ceasefire in the Russian-occupied Ukrainian city of Oleshky.
Looking ahead, the Pope’s scheduled apostolic journey to South America, set for November 6–17 to visit Uruguay, Argentina, and Peru, remains uncertain. Vatican observers note that Leo—who spent two decades as a missionary in Peru—is eager to make the journey but will likely adhere to his physicians’ recommendations. In the interim, the Pope has cancelled all official audiences until October 20.
The Pope first disclosed the presence of the lung nodule to the public last Sunday in St. Peter’s Square, following the Angelus prayer, explaining that routine medical examinations had revealed the growth and that doctors had recommended its removal.
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