Pope Leo has cancerous tumour removed in lung operation

Pope Leo XIV had a cancerous tumour removed from his right lung in a 90-minute operation on Tuesday and “woke up normally” after the procedure, the Vatican said. A Vatican source said further tests were being carried out to determine if the cancer had spread. “To ensure the procedure was radical, the lower lobe of the right lung was removed,” the Vatican said in a statement. The operation “confirmed the diagnosis of a pulmonary adenocarcinoma, as suspected from the pre-operative tests”, it said. The 71-year-old pope was in the operating room at Rome’s Gemelli hospital for a total of three hours and the operation lasted half that time. “The surgery was successful and there were no complications,” the Vatican said, with a source adding that he had requested dinner after the procedure.

Lamps and flowers outside Gemelli Hospital, where Pope Leo is hospitalised to undergo surgery to remove a lung nodule, in Rome, Italy on October 13, 2026. —Reuters Juanita Mora, medical spokesperson for the American Lung Association, told AFP that when this type of cancer is “caught in early stages, then it has a very, very good prognosis”. She said much would depend on the stage of the cancer found and whether it had spread. In cases of surgical removal and when the cancer is caught early and localised, five-year survival rates from lung adenocarcinoma were “80 to 98 percent”, she said. “They’ll determine if he needs chemotherapy, radiation therapy, targeted therapy, or immunotherapy for the adenocarcinoma,” she said. ‘Thoughts and prayers’ US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a practicing Catholic, said after the surgery that he and his wife were “united in prayer for (Leo’s) health following his recent diagnosis”. “May the Lord give him strength and the Holy Spirit guide the medical…