Pope Leo to be discharged from hospital on Saturday, Vatican says

Pope Leo XIV will be released from hospital on Saturday, four days after surgery on his right lung, the Vatican announced.

The 71-year-old pope had a portion of his right lung removed and received a diagnosis of lung cancer earlier this week. 

"He will leave the hospital in the early afternoon and return to the Vatican," a statement from the Holy See released on Saturday said, adding that he will recite the Angelus prayer from the window of the papal apartment on Sunday.

His personal physician and surgeon said in a separate statement that Leo was "deemed fit for discharge from the hospital" based on blood test results and a chest X-ray performed Saturday morning along with an assessment of his clinical condition.

Leo was initially expected to remain at Gemelli Hospital in Rome until Oct. 20 but on Thursday he resumed some work activity, and doctors said Friday that tests confirmed "steady improvement in his recovery."

The Vatican said Leo spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin over the phone on Friday, during which he "expressed his deep concern about the grave humanitarian situation in the city of Oleshky" in Ukraine. The pope also held separate meetings with Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, the dean of the College of Cardinals, and Cardinal Baldassare Reina, the vicar general of the Diocese of Rome.

The Vatican had also released on Friday pictures of the American-born pope standing at an altar in green vestments, celebrating Mass at a small chapel in Gemelli Hospital.

The pope was scheduled to travel to South America next month, but his ability to make the trip has been in question since his diagnosis. However, on Friday the Vatican published the names of journalists accredited to fly on the papal plane to Uruguay, Argentina and Peru, signalling that the trip appeared to be going ahead.