ROME — Pope Leo XIV was admitted to a Rome hospital Tuesday for surgery to remove a lung nodule, as the leader of 1.4 billion Catholics prepared to undergo his first major medical procedure after 17 months as pontiff.
Leo stunned Vatican City and much of the Catholic world Sunday, when he calmly announced the discovery of a small lesion in his lung during a regular address in St. Peter’s Square. The 71-year-old U.S.-born pope said that the nodule had been detected “at a very early stage and is well localized,” and that he was following doctors’ advice by having it removed.
The surgery was set to begin about 4 p.m. local time at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital, according to a Gemelli doctor familiar with the logistics of the pope’s care who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press. The doctor said the pope’s operation was expected to last about two hours.
As the pope entered the hospital Tuesday, he smiled and waved to several hundred people gathered at the entrance to await his arrival.
The Vatican has estimated Leo’s recovery time at one week, and the Holy See said late Monday that all papal audiences would be canceled through Oct. 20.
The nodule, the Vatican said, was discovered while the pope was receiving a regular checkup. Lung nodules are localized lesions measuring less than one inch that can show up in diagnostic tests. They prove cancerous in less than 5 percent of cases, though a patient’s age and the size of the mass can increase risk, according to the American Thoracic Society.
Experts not involved in the pope’s treatment say that while such procedures are not generally complex, a recommendation for removal of a nodule could signal concern that the lesion is causing distress or displaying indications of potential malignancy.
Removal could also be recommended out of an abundance of caution, to conduct medical tests “to definitively differentiate between a benign and a malignant lesion,” said Raffaele Angelo Madaio, an oncologist at Rome’s Israelite Hospital who is not involved in the pope’s care.
The discovery of the nodule was deemed significant enough to rush a procedure during a critical week in Vatican City, when major cardinals and leaders from bishop’s conferences across the globe had gathered at Leo’s request to discuss issues surrounding marriage and the family.
News of Leo’s procedure took many in Vatican City off guard. In a Monday statement, two senior cardinals organizing the conference — a reflection on Pope Francis’s teachings on family issues from a decade ago, including his controversial opening for divorced and remarried Catholics to take Communion — said they had written to Leo on Sunday “upon hearing the news.”
The cardinals, Kevin Farrell and Mario Grech, noted that Leo had been unable to participate in the sessions as planned and had advised clergy that he would not be making his expected concluding address.
“Once the Holy Father has completed his convalescence, we will present the assembly’s results to him,” the cardinals wrote.
Leo’s hospitalization also means he will be unable to present a new sustainability award named after the pope and being conferred by his alma mater, Villanova University. The medal ceremony was scheduled for Tuesday in Castel Gandolfo, the summer papal residence 16 miles southeast of Rome.
The Vatican has played down suggestions that the pope’s surgery could affect Leo’s major trip to Latin America, where an intense 12-day schedule will bring him to Uruguay, Argentina and Peru starting Nov. 6. Millions of faithful are poised to turn out for an array of events, including Leo’s homecoming to Peru — a country where the Chicago-born pope became naturalized as a citizen and served as a missionary and bishop.
Stefano Pitrelli contributed to this report.
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