Pope says he feels 'closeness' to sick after lung-cancer surgery

(ANSA) - ROME, 19 OTT - Pope Leo XIV has said the lung-cancer surgery he had last week has brought him closer to the sick. "This experience has allowed me to feel, in a particular way, a closeness to all those who are living through illness or a state of infirmity", the American pontiff said during his Angelus address on Sunday, just five days after an operation to remove a cancerous nodule on his right lung and one day after being discharged from Rome's Gemelli hospital. The 71-year-old leader of the Catholic Church said he would now "gradually resume my activities". Leo had already started doing some work while he was still in hospital and spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday to call for a ceasefire in the Russian-occupied Ukrainian city of Oleshky. Stefano Margaritora, the surgeon who led the team that performed the operation, has told Vatican News that he saw "no clinical reasons" why Leo's scheduled 11-day visit to Uruguay, Argentina and Peru next month should not go ahead. (ANSA).
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