EXPLAINER: What is the 'hospital of the popes' where Leo is recovering from surgery?

ROME, Italy - Rome's Gemelli Hospital, where Pope Leo is recovering after surgery for lung cancer, is known as the "hospital of the popes".

The hospital, with a suite especially for popes, has become the preferred medical facility for modern pontiffs since the time of Pope John Paul II.

What is the Gemelli?

Located some 5 km (3 miles) from the Vatican City, the Gemelli hospital offers every major medical speciality under one roof. It also serves as the teaching hospital of the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart and has more than 1,600 beds.

There is a dedicated suite for popes on the 10th floor, including a private chapel. However, this is currently under renovation, meaning Leo is staying in a different set of rooms.

In the 2026 Newsweek-Statista "World's Best Hospitals" rankings, Gemelli was named as Italy's top hospital and ranked 33rd globally among more than 2,500 hospitals assessed across 32 countries.

How did it become the Popes' hospital?

Popes were traditionally treated by doctors summoned to their residence. For example, Pope Paul VI underwent prostate surgery in 1967 in a specially equipped operating room set up inside the Vatican's Apostolic Palace.

Everything changed during the pontificate of John Paul II. He was rushed to the Gemelli after a 1981 assassination attempt, undergoing emergency surgery that saved his life.

He returned repeatedly to the hospital over the following decades for treatment, spending more than 150 days there during his pontificate. He dubbed the place "Vatican III", after the official residences at the Vatican itself and Castel Gandolfo.

Benedict XVI was never admitted during his pontificate.

By contrast, Francis, who died in April 2025, was hospitalized several times, including for colon surgery in 2021, respiratory problems and abdominal surgery in 2023, and for bilateral pneumonia in the weeks before his death.

Is Gemelli owned by the Vatican?

The Gemelli hospital was built on land originally owned by the Vatican that was donated by Pope Pius XI in 1934 to the body that oversees the Catholic University. Opened in 1964, it is named after Agostino Gemelli, the Franciscan friar, physician and psychologist who founded the university.

However, despite its close association with the papacy, Gemelli is not a Vatican institution. It operates as a private non-profit academic medical centre within Italy's healthcare system, with most patients treated through the country's publicly funded health service.

The Vatican owns the Bambino Gesù hospital in Rome, but that facility specializes in pediatric care. — Reuters