Pope Leo admitted to hospital for lung operation

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Vatican City (AFP) — Pope Leo XIV was admitted to hospital in Rome on Tuesday for surgery to remove a nodule on his lung, but cardinals said he appeared “very relaxed” about the operation.

The surgery to remove a pulmonary nodule, or small growth of tissue in the lung, marks the 71-year-old’s first hospitalization since he became head of the Catholic Church on May 8, 2025.

It will take place Tuesday afternoon, the Vatican said.

On Sunday, in a surprise announcement following Angelus prayers, Leo told the faithful in St Peter’s Square that doctors had discovered the nodule “at a very early stage” during recent medical checks.

“The doctors believe it would be right to intervene,” he said.

The Vatican has historically been very secretive about papal health, but began to be more transparent during the illness of Leo’s predecessor Francis, an Argentine who freely discussed his ailments.

Leo waved to well-wishers as he left the Vatican by car and smiled and waved to crowds waiting for him at the Gemelli, before walking into the hospital.

The operation will be performed by the Gemelli’s thoracic surgery team, led by Stefano Margaritora, the Vatican said.

The pope’s recovery time is expected to be about a week. His audiences have been cancelled until October 20.

The Vatican’s secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, told ANSA news agency that Leo had been “very calm” about the nodule when they met on Monday.

Japanese Cardinal Tarcisio Isao Kikuchi, who also saw the pope Monday, told the Repubblica daily Leo was “very relaxed, as he always is, and jokey, as usual”.

Rome’s Gemelli hospital is where popes are usually treated, and they stay in a special suite on the 10th floor, which has a small chapel, kitchen, bathroom and meeting room.

But that suite is under renovation, so Leo will stay in another one on the same floor, under high security.

He will likely have his personal nurse Massimiliano Strappetti, who looked after Leo’s predecessor Francis during several stays at the Gemelli hospital before his death last year.

– ‘Coin lesion’ –

Chicago-born Leo, the first US pope, is sporty and believed to generally be in good health.

Leo is scheduled to travel to South America from November 6-17 to visit Uruguay, Argentina and Peru.

It was not clear what would happen should there be serious complications during the operation.

Under Church law, a figure known as the Cardinal Camerlengo — or chamberlain — takes over administrative duties if the pope dies, but pontiffs do not have a deputy to replace them if they become incapacitated.

Marco Scarci, a thoracic surgery expert in the UK, told AFP it was not “a particularly risky operation” and he expected Leo’s recovery to be quick, though “it might take up to three months to return to his pre-surgery fitness level”.

Most pulmonary nodules are benign, or non-cancerous, but a small percentage can be an early indication of lung cancer.

The Vatican told AFP the nodule was found during routine health checks, and there were no symptoms that led to checking the pope’s lungs.

A small nodule is called a “coin lesion” because on X-rays it looks like a coin, Professor Federico Venuta, head of thoracic surgery at the Policlinico Umberto 1 hospital in Rome, told AFP.

Small nodules tend not to cause symptoms, but larger ones can cause shortness of breath, chest pain and persistent coughing — sometimes with blood.

Such nodules “could be a whole range of benign lesions — inflammatory, infectious, autoimmune, or congenital — or they could be malignant,” Venuta said.

– Outlook ‘positive’ –

Removing the nodule can take place under general anesthetic with the patient breathing through a tube.

“Often, the lesion can be accessed from the outside or inside, for instance, via image-guided biopsy or endoscopy, but sometimes this is not possible,” Venuta said.

Even if the nodule should turn out not to be benign, the pope’s outlook would be “very positive”, he said.

“For a generally healthy person, the prognosis for lung cancer caught at such an early stage — specifically a pulmonary nodule with no distant spread — is absolutely favourable,” he said.

In terms of the South American trip, Venuta said that “generally, the rule is to avoid air travel for about 20 days following these surgeries, though there is obviously some flexibility.”

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