The Vatican on Tuesday said Pope Leo XIV’s surgery to remove a nodule from his lungs confirms he has cancer.
“An intraoperative histological examination confirmed the diagnosis of lung adenocarcinoma, as suspected from the preoperative examinations,” the Vatican said in a statement.
The diagnosis followed the pope’s “thoracic surgery”, which the Vatican said “was successful, and there were no complications”.
“To ensure a radical resection, the lower lobe of his right lung was removed using a video-assisted technique,” the Vatican said, adding, “The holy father was in the operating room for approximately three hours; the operation itself lasted about 90 minutes.”
According to Harvard Health, adenocarcinoma of the lung is a type of non-small cell lung cancer.
“It occurs when abnormal lung cells multiply out of control and form a tumour. Eventually, tumour cells can spread (metastasise) to other parts of the body, including the lymph nodes around and between the lungs, liver, bones, adrenal glands and brain,” Harvard Health said.
We have recently deactivated our website's comment provider in favour of other channels of distribution and commentary. We encourage you to join the conversation on our stories via our Facebook, Twitter and other social media pages.