Pope Leo XIV To Undergo Lung Surgery In Rome After Nodule Detection; Public Audiences Cancelled Until October 20

The 71-year-old pontiff will undergo surgery at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital after doctors discovered a small growth in his lung. His public audiences have been cancelled until October 20.

Pope Leo XIV is set to undergo surgery at a hospital in Rome on Tuesday to remove a nodule from his lung, in what medical experts describe as a relatively low-risk procedure.

The 71-year-old pontiff is expected to be admitted to Gemelli Hospital late in the morning, Vatican spokesperson Matteo Bruni told AFP. The operation will mark Leo’s first hospitalisation since becoming head of the Catholic Church on May 8, 2025.

Lung nodule detected during routine medical examination

The pope revealed the diagnosis on Sunday following Angelus prayers, telling worshippers gathered in St Peter’s Square that doctors had discovered the nodule “at a very early stage” during a recent medical examination.

“The doctors believe it would be right to intervene,” he said while addressing the crowd from a window of the Apostolic Palace.

The Vatican confirmed that the growth was detected during routine health checks and that the pope had not experienced any symptoms that prompted an examination of his lungs.

Leo is expected to require approximately a week to recover, and all his public audiences have been cancelled until October 20.

He is likely to stay in a specially designated top-floor suite at Gemelli Hospital, where popes traditionally receive medical treatment, under tight security.

His personal nurse, Massimiliano Strappetti, who also cared for his predecessor Pope Francis during several hospitalisations before his death in 2025, is expected to accompany him.

Doctors say surgery carries limited risks

Chicago-born Leo, the first pope from the United States, is known for his active lifestyle and is generally believed to be in good health.

Marco Scarci, a UK-based thoracic surgery expert, told AFP that removing the lung nodule was not “a particularly risky operation”.

He expected the pontiff to recover quickly, although “it might take up to three months to return to his pre-surgery fitness level”.

Pulmonary nodules are small growths of tissue in the lungs. Most are benign, meaning they are not cancerous, although a small proportion may indicate early-stage lung cancer.

Professor Federico Venuta, head of Thoracic Surgery at Policlinico Umberto 1 hospital in Rome, explained that a small pulmonary nodule is often called a “coin lesion” because of its appearance on an X-ray.

While smaller nodules generally do not cause symptoms, larger growths can lead to breathlessness, chest pain and persistent coughing, sometimes accompanied by blood.

Such nodules “could be a whole range of benign lesions — inflammatory, infectious, autoimmune, or congenital — or they could be malignant,” Venuta said.

Early detection offers positive outlook

Doctors may remove pulmonary nodules under general anaesthesia, with patients breathing through a tube during the procedure.

“Often, the lesion can be accessed from the outside or inside, for instance, via image-guided biopsy or endoscopy, but sometimes this is not possible,” Venuta explained.

He said the prognosis could remain encouraging even if tests revealed that the growth was malignant.

“For a generally healthy person, the prognosis for lung cancer caught at such an early stage — specifically a pulmonary nodule with no distant spread — is absolutely favourable,” he said.

The Vatican has not indicated that the pope’s nodule is cancerous.

South America visit scheduled for November

Leo is scheduled to visit Uruguay, Argentina and Peru from November 6 to 17, raising questions about whether the operation could affect his travel plans.

Venuta said that “generally, the rule is to avoid air travel for about 20 days following these surgeries, though there is obviously some flexibility”.

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The Vatican has not announced any changes to the planned visit.

The Vatican traditionally maintained strict secrecy around papal health, although it became more transparent during the pontificate of Francis, who openly discussed his medical conditions.

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