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Pope Leo is walking and eating normally a day after lung surgery, doctors say
The Pope's physicians say his blood tests and chest X-ray are normal for this stage of recovery. A decision on any further cancer treatment waits on more test results.
Key points
- Pope Leo is out of bed and walking and has had respiratory physiotherapy.
- His doctors said "Recovery is proceeding as planned" after Tuesday's operation.
- Chemotherapy is not under discussion for now; audiences remain cancelled until 20 October.
Pope Leo XIV is out of bed, walking and eating normally a day after surgery to remove part of his right lung, his doctors said on Wednesday.
In a medical note released by the Vatican, his personal physician, Luigi Carbone, and Stefano Margaritora, a member of his medical team, said a blood test and a chest X-ray showed “normal post-operative” progress, with readings “within the expected range for the type of procedure performed”. The 71-year-old pontiff has also begun respiratory physiotherapy and went back to his usual diet, eating both breakfast and lunch.
“Recovery is proceeding as planned,” the doctors wrote.
Leo had a 90-minute operation at Rome’s Gemelli hospital on Tuesday to remove the lower lobe of his right lung. Tests afterwards confirmed lung adenocarcinoma, a diagnosis that checks before surgery had already suggested. The Holy See’s press office described the removal as “radical”, meaning surgeons took out all the suspect tissue to clear any remaining trace of the cancer, and said the procedure was successful with no complications.
The Pope is expected to stay in hospital for about a week. All his audiences up to 20 October have been cancelled.
The Vatican said doctors were not discussing chemotherapy or any other treatment for now, and that the decision would depend on the results of further tests. No discharge date has been given.