Pope's doctors say tests confirm continued improvement in his condition after cancer surgery

ROME — Doctors said Friday that tests have confirmed the “continued improvement” in Pope Leo XIV’s condition following lung cancer surgery. The 71-year-old Leo presided over Mass, and distributed Communion, in a special chapel set up for him in the Gemelli hospital, Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said. “His post-operative recovery allows him to carry out his normal daily activities completely on his own,” said the medical update signed by Leo’s personal physician Dr. Luigi Carbone and the head of thoracic surgery at Gemelli, Dr. Stefano Margaritora. Pope Leo XIV’s recovery from lung surgery has progressed so normally that the Vatican on Friday stopped providing morning updates confirming he had woken up and had breakfast, even as questions swirled about what his cancer means for the future of his young pontificate. But in a sign it was all systems go, the Vatican on Friday published the names of journalists whose accreditation requests had been accepted to fly on Leo’s plane with him during his Nov. 6-17 trip to Uruguay, Argentina and Peru. Leo’s ability to make the tr