Faithful gather to welcome Pope Leo back for Sunday blessing after cancer surgery

VATICAN CITY — Catholic faithful converged on St. Peter’s Square on Sunday to welcome Pope Leo XIV back to the Vatican after surgery to remove a tumor from his lung. Leo is delivering the traditional Angelus blessing, his first official appointment since being released from the hospital on Saturday, four days after cancer surgery. The 71-year-old pontiff had the lower lobe of his right lung removed on Tuesday in the first major health event of his 17-month pontificate. The surgery confirmed he had adenocarcinoma , the most common type of lung cancer. He told a reporter in English that he was doing ‘’much better’’ as he drove away from Rome’s Gemelli hospital to return to the Vatican, well ahead of the weeklong hospital stay than had been initially anticipated. “I don’t believe it, because he was just operated on the other day,” Cosimo Mastrocinque, a retired factory worker visiting the Vatican from the southern region of Puglia, said. “It is a miracle that he recovered already.” American tourists were especially eager to pray alongside the first pope born in the Un