Pope Leo XIV will undergo surgery on Tuesday to remove a nodule from his lung, the Vatican said. It will be Leo’s first medical issue requiring hospitalization since he became the pontiff last year.
The surgery was expected to take place at the Policlinico A. Gemelli hospital in Rome. The Vatican said previously that Leo was expected to spend about a week recovering in the hospital and that all audiences with the pope were canceled until Oct. 20.
The pope, 71, announced during his weekly blessing and prayer in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday that doctors had advised the surgical intervention after detecting a “very early-stage and well-localized” nodule during recent medical tests.
Pulmonary nodules are very common, and most are benign, according to the American Lung Association.
Dr. Marco Alloisio, a thoracic surgeon at the Humanitas Cancer Center in Milan, emphasized that “a pulmonary nodule isn’t necessarily synonymous with lung cancer.”
He said that any further treatment would depend on the histological examination of the nodule and other biological tests that would check for genetic mutations. Dr. Alloisio, who is not part of the pope’s care, called it “very positive” that Leo had been receiving checkups.
Lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States, and older adults are at higher risk. Annual screening has been shown to save lives.
Dr. Lorenzo Spaggiari, a thoracic surgical oncologist at the European Institute of Oncology in Milan who is also not part of the pope’s medical team, said the pope’s surgery was likely to be minimally invasive, using robotic surgical procedures. A biopsy of the nodule would determine whether it needed to be removed and, if so, what percentage of the pulmonary lobe along with it.
While hospitalized, the pope is expected to remain in charge at the Vatican unless he is incapacitated, but day-to-day decisions are to be handled by its sprawling bureaucracy. Any major decision requiring papal approval is expected to be postponed until his release.
The pope had been scheduled to preside on Wednesday over the concluding Mass for a Vatican meeting about how a document on marriage and the family has been followed in the 10 years since it was issued.
Instead, the Mass will be presided over by Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, 69, who was approved by Leo last week as the new dean of the College of Cardinals. The dean, who coordinates the activities of his fellow cardinals, plays an important role during any papal transition.
However, Leo appeared optimistic that he would be on his feet soon. He is scheduled to travel to South America early next month, a homecoming of sorts given that he worked and lived in Peru for many years. In his remarks last Sunday, Leo suggested he was still planning to go.
Dr. Spaggiari said that after lung surgery, patients are advised not to travel by plane for three weeks.
Asked whether the trip, which is to begin on Nov. 6, was still on the pope’s schedule, Matteo Bruni, the Vatican spokesman, said Tuesday morning that the pope had said it was.
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