Two days after he asked the faithful for their prayers during his Sunday noon blessing, Pope Leo XIV learned he has lung cancer, the Vatican announced.
Surgeons at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital delivered the diagnosis Tuesday while removing a nodular lesion from the 71-year-old pontiff’s right lung.
Tests run during the operation identified the disease as lung adenocarcinoma.
Vatican officials called the operation “successful” and reported “no complications.” The pope spent about three hours in the operating room, and the procedure itself lasted 90 minutes.
Dr. Stefano Margaritora, Gemelli’s chief thoracic surgeon, led the team that operated.
“To ensure a radical resection, the lower lobe of the right lung was removed using a video-assisted technique,” the Vatican said in a statement. “Intraoperative histological examination confirmed the diagnosis of pulmonary adenocarcinoma, as suspected from pre-operative tests.”
Leo “regained consciousness normally,” the Vatican said, and staff wheeled him back to the 10th floor.
He is staying in a room near the hospital’s papal apartment, which includes a private chapel, because that suite is undergoing renovations, the Vatican press office said.
Earlier that day, the pope entered the hospital through its main entrance and waved to dozens of well-wishers who had gathered to greet him, The Associated Press reported.
The path to Tuesday’s operation began Sunday, when the Vatican announced that doctors had found a nodular lesion in his lung. Leo then spoke about it himself.
“The doctors believe it’s best to take action, so, following their advice, I’ve decided to have surgery to remove it,” Leo said in remarks during his Sunday noon blessing. “Thank you for your spiritual support, and I entrust myself to your prayers.”
Several questions remain unanswered. The Vatican did not say what stage the cancer has reached, whether it has spread, or what treatment Leo may need next.
“The Vatican tends to keep these things under wraps, so there’ll be a lot of reading between the lines to try and detect what is the state of the pope’s health,” Candida Moss, the Edward Cadbury professor of theology at the University of Birmingham in England, told CBS News.
Leo, who was born in Chicago, swims and plays tennis. He has kept a busy schedule since taking the papacy a year and a half ago.
The American Thoracic Society says a lung nodule typically measures under half an inch and appears on a CT scan.
Fewer than 5% prove cancerous, and those that do usually indicate early-stage lung cancer, the society says.
Adenocarcinoma is the most common lung cancer in the United States, accounting for roughly 40% of diagnoses, according to the Lung Cancer Foundation of America.
It develops in glandular cells along the outer lung and spreads more slowly than other types, which often leads to earlier detection, the foundation said.
Fatigue, shortness of breath, and upper back and chest pain are among the symptoms. Doctors treat it with surgery, chemotherapy, immunotherapy or radiation.
The pope’s calendar now faces disruption.
The Vatican on Monday canceled all of his audiences through Oct. 20, and it has not said whether he will make his planned Nov. 6 trip to South America.
Patients typically avoid air travel for about three weeks after a procedure like this one.
Vatican protocol allows cardinals and aides to take over many of the pope’s duties when needed, Moss told CBS News.
“We should also expect that, inasmuch as is possible, Pope Leo is going to continue to work,” Moss said. “We have a long tradition of popes — not just Pope Francis, but also Pope John Paul II, who had Parkinson’s for 10 years — who continued to remain as active as they could, and as active in Catholic liturgies as they could, right up until the end of their tenures.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio responded on social media, saying he and his wife were “united in prayer” for the pope.
“May the Lord give him strength and the Holy Spirit guide the medical professionals taking care of the Holy Father,” Rubio wrote.
Cancer has reached the pope’s family as well. His older brother, Louis Prevost, who lives in Florida, has multiple myeloma, his wife, Deborah Prevost, told CBS News on Tuesday.
The Mayo Clinic describes the illness as a blood cancer that starts in plasma cells and accumulates in the bone marrow.
Doctors first diagnosed Louis Prevost in 2017, his wife said. Treatment in 2019, which included stem cell therapy and a clinical trial, held the disease at a “very low level.”
He “fell out of remission” three months ago and now participates in a clinical trial at a local hospital. She did not disclose the stage of his illness.
The brothers spoke by phone last week, before Louis began the trial, and Leo shared news of his own situation.
“He [Pope Leo] called to let us know what would be happening,” Deborah Prevost told CBS News. “We keep praying, keeping spirits up for both of them.”
