Vatican confirms Pope Leo underwent surgery for lung cancer
Deutsche Welle · LC · trust 63/100
The pope has had part of his lung removed and is recovering after surgery. Leo has been unusually candid for a pontiff about his health issues, disclosing the surgery to thousands of people in St. Peter's Square.
https://p.dw.com/p/5OBtI Leo was greeted by the hospital's medical director, Andrea Cambieri, before he went in for his procedure Image: Guglielmo Mangiapane/REUTERS Advertisement Pope Leo XIV underwent surgery on Tuesday to remove a nodule from his lung that later was reported to be cancerous, the Vatican said, adding the pope "woke up normally" after the procedure.
"The procedure was completed successfully, within the expected timeframe and as planned," said a brief Vatican statement.
The Vatican said in a medical bulletin that he lower lobe of Leo's right lung was removed, and he was diagnosed with lung adenocarcinoma, a common form of lung cancer.
The Vatican said the diagnosis had been suspected by preoperative tests and was confirmed during surgery.
The surgery at Rome's prestigious Gemelli hospital, which has been the main site of treatment for popes for decades, lasted about three hours. Leo's recovery is expected to take about a week, the statement added.
According to oncologists, Leo has an excellent prognosis since the cancerous nodule was caught so early.
A Vatican source cited by AFP news agency said further tests were being carried out to determine if the cancer had spread further.
Leo, 71, disclosed the health issue to thousands of worshippers at a prayer service on Sunday, making a marked shift in the level of transparency about his health compared to his predecessors.
In the past, the Vatican has often been accused of making confusing or extremely vague statements about popes' health, if revealing at information at all.
All of the pontiff's engagements have been cancelled through October 20. He is still likely to take a planned trip to South America in November.
Pope Leo to undergo lung nodule surgery To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video
Edited by: Jenipher Camino Gonzalez, Wesley Dockery, Zac Crellin
Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that the pope underwent surgery for seven hours. The duration of his surgey was actually three hours.
Don't let the algorithm hide the news. If you rely on our team for trusted reporting, please take a moment to select us as your Preferred Source on Google by clicking here and hitting the "star" or "preferred" button , so you'll always see our verified news first.
Read the original at Deutsche Welle →
Open in TruthVane →