Pope Leo walks out of hospital
Pope Leo XIV returned to the Vatican on Saturday, four days after undergoing lung cancer surgery at Rome’s Gemelli hospital. Dozens of well-wishers gathered to see him off, greeting him with cries of 'Holiness'.“I am better, thank you,” the 71-year-old pontiff said when asked about his health as he was driven away in a black sports utility vehicle (SUV), according to the Associated Press (AP).Leo had greeted patients inside the hospital before walking unaided to his waiting vehicle. He also briefly stopped when a teenage girl presented him with a homemade papal doll.Pope's surgeon, Stefano Margaritora, head of thoracic surgery at Gemelli, accompanied him to the hospital entrance as he was formally discharged.
Leo reached the Vatican gates around 10 minutes after leaving the hospital.The Vatican said the pope was expected to deliver the traditional Angelus blessing on Sunday from a window overlooking St Peter’s Square, a week after publicly announcing that doctors had detected a nodule in his lung and that it would be removed.Leo underwent surgery on Tuesday to remove the lower lobe of his right lung. The procedure confirmed adenocarcinoma, the most common type of lung cancer.
Since the operation, the pontiff has shown signs of recovery, holding a telephone conversation with Russian president Vladimir Putin, meeting senior aides and celebrating Mass in a makeshift hospital chapel. Medical bulletins said he had been able to carry on “normal daily activities completely on his own.”On Friday, the Vatican released the first images of Leo since the surgery, showing him in green vestments standing at an altar in the hospital chapel.
Doctors reported his “continued improvement”.Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said Leo had presided over the liturgy and distributed Communion to medical personnel and Vatican gendarmes. In his homily, the pope thanked hospital staff “for the work they do every day taking care of the sick in their fragility, and in a particular way what they had done for him,” Bruni said.The Vatican had initially expected Leo to remain in hospital for a week and cancelled his audiences through Tuesday.
His discharge came earlier than planned following a satisfactory recovery.The pope’s next major engagement is a Latin America trip scheduled for November 6-17, involving a dozen flights and two helicopter journeys.Doctors are awaiting further test results to determine the cancer’s precise characteristics, whether it has spread beyond the removed lung lobe and whether additional treatment will be required.