Pope Leo has been in hospital since Tuesday. Alamy Stock Photo
Vatican
The 71-year-old pontiff has been deemed fit for discharge and is expected to return to the Vatican this afternoon, before leading Sunday’s Angelus prayer.
POPE LEO XIV will leave the Rome hospital today where he has been recovering from lung cancer surgery, the Vatican said, after doctors deemed him “fit for discharge”.
Leo, 71, has been at the Gemelli hospital north of the Vatican since Tuesday, where doctors removed part of his right lung to extract a cancerous tumour.
“Considering the blood tests, the chest X-ray done this morning, and evaluating the clinical picture, the Holy Father has been deemed fit for discharge,” wrote doctors Luigi Carbone and Stefano Margaritora in a note published by the Vatican.
Pope Leo XIV's doctors announced on Saturday morning that Pope Leo XIV is fit to be discharged from Gemelli Hospital. In a statement from the Holy See Press Office, Dr. Luigi Carbone and Professor Stefano Margaritora said the Pope underwent blood tests and a chest X-ray in the morning, which confirm that his clinical condition allows for him to leave hospital. The Holy See Press Office said he will return to the Vatican on Saturday afternoon and pray the Angelus on Sunday from the window of the papal apartment.
— Vatican News (@VaticanNews) October 17, 2026
The Vatican confirmed that “Pope Leo XIV will be discharged today from the Gemelli Polyclinic”.
“He will leave the hospital in the early afternoon and return to the Vatican. Tomorrow he will recite the Angelus prayer from the window of the papal apartment,” the Vatican said.
The Angelus prayer is typically given by the pope from the window of the Apostolic Palace, but in past years, former popes John Paul II and Francis similarly hospitalised at the Gemelli have delivered the prayer from the window of their hospital rooms.