A day after Pope Leo XIV left the hospital following surgery to remove a tumor from his right lung, he made his first public appearance since the operation to give his weekly prayer and blessing to thousands of the faithful in Rome.
The pope, who left Gemelli Hospital on Saturday after being diagnosed with lung cancer, stepped into a window in the apostolic palace in St. Peter’s Square at exactly noon on Sunday and spoke in a firm, confident voice.
“I would like to thank everyone who has been praying for me these past few days,” Leo said. “I have truly felt your support — thank you!”
Leo’s appearance, less than 18 months after he emerged for the first time as a newly elected pope, represented a show of strength after he spent only five days in the hospital. The Vatican originally suggested he was likely to stay there to recover for a full week. His private audiences remain suspended until Tuesday.
“This experience has made me feel a special closeness to all those who are battling illness and infirmity,” the pope said on Sunday. He thanked the doctors and staff of Gemelli Hospital and said he would “gradually resume my activities.”
Exactly a week ago, the pope stunned followers when he used this same weekly Angelus prayer and blessing to announce that he would undergo surgery to remove a small growth on his lung in the coming days. Two days later, the Vatican said he had lung cancer.
By resuming one of the most consistent events on his schedule so quickly, Leo, the first pontiff from the United States, appeared to want to demonstrate that his illness is, for now, a minor setback.
“He seemed like he was in good spirits so it was nice to see him smiling and seeming healthy,” said Theresa Robinson, a campus minister at St. Joseph’s College at the University of Alberta, Canada, who saw the pope from St. Peter’s Square on Sunday.
“It’s like having a family member go into the hospital and you hear they have cancer,” she continued. “So to see him back and already public and talking, it’s comforting, it’s a relief.”
Neither the Vatican nor the pope’s doctors have released the results of additional tests that could determine whether he needs further treatment.
In the past, papal appearances at St. Peter’s have been scrutinized for indications of the pontiff’s health. Only a day before Pope Francis died, he blessed the faithful who had gathered in St. Peter’s Square for Easter Mass. He appeared in a wheelchair and spoke a few words in a raspy voice, deferring to a Vatican aide to read his full papal address.
On Sunday, Leo seemed sure and stable as he appeared alone at the window of the apostolic palace. He waved to the crowd and did not seem to have any trouble getting through his remarks.
Massimo Faggioli, a Catholic theologian at Villanova University, in Pennsylvania, Pope Leo’s alma mater, said he expected the pontiff to speak with a “weaker voice” so soon after surgery. The fact he sounded so robust “has been a performance that has reassured many people,” Mr. Faggioli said.
In his brief remarks, the pope, who often comments on global news after the weekly prayer and blessings, focused on his gratitude and feelings of empathy for others who are sick or infirm.
“Less than one month after he was in France, France is burning,” Mr. Faggioli said, referring to widespread protests that have broken out there. “He decided to emphasize the meaning of what has happened to him in the last week more than other things.”
The Vatican has indicated that, for now, Leo will proceed with a planned trip next month to Uruguay, Argentina and Peru. The trip remains on the official Vatican website, although some officials have said the agenda for the trip could change depending on the speed of the pope’s recovery.
In an interview published on Sunday by Vatican News, the official Vatican news site, Prof. Stefano Margaritora, one of the pope’s doctors who operated on him, said there were “no clinical reasons why this visit should not take place.”
Leo was diagnosed with lung adenocarcinoma, a common form of lung cancer. Although many new therapies have been developed for the disease, survival rates vary greatly depending on the stage of the cancer and a patient’s general health.
“Though we are all eager for more information about his prognosis and possible treatments, the Angelus is not the time to impart that information,” said Kathleen Sprows Cummings, a historian at University of Notre Dame.
Leo, who had no other reported medical problems, is known to play tennis regularly, and on a recent trip to France, he appeared healthy while maintaining an intense schedule of public events.
“It was magical seeing him,” said Margaret McKenna, a retiree who was in Rome on Sunday during a pilgrimage with other alumni of Emmanuel College, a Catholic college in Boston. “The reports were pretty positive that they caught it early and everything.” Hopefully, she added, “that’s the end of it.”
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