Discharged from Rome’s Gemelli Hospital
Pope Leo XIV has been discharged from Rome’s Gemelli Hospital, just four days after undergoing an operation to remove a cancerous growth from his lung. The 71-year-old pontiff walked unaided to a waiting car on Saturday afternoon, stopping briefly to speak to well-wishers and drawing cheers from the crowd outside.
Doctors Luigi Carbone and Stefano Margaritora released a statement noting that the Holy Father was deemed fit for discharge after blood tests and a chest X-ray showed steady improvement. The medical team reported that his recovery had progressed normally since the procedure on Tuesday.
Details of the Surgery and Diagnosis
The 90-minute operation involved the removal of the lower lobe of the Pope’s right lung to extract the tumour. According to the Vatican, the pontiff was diagnosed with adenocarcinoma, the most common kind of lung cancer.
Before leaving his 10th-floor room at the hospital in the north-west of the Italian capital, photographs released by the Vatican showed the Pope celebrating Mass and distributing communion to hospital staff on Friday. While initial Vatican estimates anticipated a week-long hospital stay, he was cleared to leave ahead of schedule. Doctors are still awaiting further test results to determine whether the cancer has spread to nearby lymph nodes or if additional treatment will be required.
Upcoming Schedule and International Appeals
Despite the Vatican clearing the Pope’s schedule entirely until October 20, he is expected to deliver the traditional Angelus prayer and blessing from the window of the papal apartment to a crowd in St Peter’s Square on Sunday. A similar surprise announcement regarding his upcoming surgery was made during last week’s Angelus.
During his hospital stay, the Pope continued working, placing a telephone call on Friday to Russian President Vladimir Putin to urge “dialogue and peace” amid intensifying Russian bombardments across Ukraine. The Vatican stated that the call—their first since June 2025—included a specific appeal for a humanitarian ceasefire in the Russian-occupied Ukrainian city of Oleshkiy to facilitate evacuations and the delivery of food and medicine.
Looking ahead, those close to the Pope indicated he remains keen to proceed with a planned trip to Latin America in early November, which includes a visit to Peru, where he previously served as a missionary for many years. Dr. Stefano Margaritora told Vatican media on Saturday that there were “no clinical reasons” to prevent the air travel, expressing expectations that the pontiff would recover fully in about ten days.
Leave a Reply