Business as usual at the Vatican as Pope Leo prepares to have surgery to remove a lung nodule

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Leo XIV had a full day of meetings, audiences and appointments on Monday, and seemed in fine form a day after revealing he would have an operation this week to remove a lung nodule discovered during recent medical tests.

The 71-year-old Leo presided over an audience with members of a Rome-based charity, the Circolo San Pietro, and received a donation from them. He spoke in a strong, clear voice, praising their service and sacrifice. The crowd gave him a rousing round of applause afterward.

Leo revealed the discovery during his Sunday noon prayer and said he was following doctors’ advice to remove the nodule “in the coming days.” The Vatican said surgery was planned in the first days of the week and predicted a weeklong recovery.

The Vatican press office said Monday that no particular issue precipitated the tests, denying Italian media reports suggesting an inflammation had prompted Leo to undergo a medical checkup.

It was business as usual at the Vatican on Monday, with Leo presiding over six private audiences, including with the head of the U.S. military chaplains, Archbishop Timothy Broglio, and the San Pietro gathering. He also made three appointments, and the Vatican released a letter he had penned to the outgoing dean of the College of Cardinals, thanking him for his service. The letter was signed on Sunday.

In the afternoon, he was expected to rejoin a weeklong conference he convened on ministering to families.

A first medical event for the papacy

Leo’s surgery marks the first major health event of his 17-month pontificate. It was significant because the pope himself revealed the news, in perhaps the most public way possible: at the end of his Sunday noon blessing, with thousands of people in St. Peter’s Square.

The Vatican has for centuries zealously guarded the pope’s health and has often sent out confusing information, or none at all, about papal illnesses. Pope Francis tried to change that by being upfront about his frailties and musing on his eventual death. But even during his pontificate, information was tightly controlled.

Leo’s decision and reveal suggested an unusual level of transparency by the American pope.

A lung nodule is a small abnormal area measuring less than 3 centimeters (1 inch) that sometimes appears on a CT scan of the chest or abdomen. Often, the scans are done to investigate trauma or a lung infection, unrelated to a lung cancer screening. A nodule can be benign or malignant, and oftentimes surgical removal is recommended to ascertain whether it is cancerous since performing a lung biopsy by needle can be difficult.

Oncologists say if the nodule turns out to be cancerous, Leo’s prognosis is “excellent” since it will have been removed at an early stage.

Unlike his predecessor Pope Francis, whose decade-long respiratory problems made him speak in a whisper, Leo tends to project his voice and frequently sings his prayers.

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Barry reported from Milan

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