Vatican says Pope Leo XIV has lung cancer after surgeons remove part of his lung

Update · Oct. 17, 2026, 3:20 PM PT: Pope Leo XIV left Rome’s Gemelli hospital on Saturday afternoon, Oct. 17, and returned to the Vatican, the Holy See Press Office says. His doctors, Dr. Luigi Carbone and Professor Stefano Margaritora, said morning blood tests and a chest X-ray showed him fit for discharge, according to a press office note, and Vatican News says he will lead the Angelus from the Apostolic Palace at noon on Sunday, Oct. 18. This desk covers the discharge in a separate story.

Pope Leo XIV, 71, has lung cancer, his doctors say. The Holy See Press Office on Tuesday, October 13, published a statement from Dr Luigi Carbone and Professor Stefano Margaritora on the afternoon’s operation. In the press office’s English text, the doctors say: “The Holy Father underwent thoracic surgery as scheduled.” They add: “To ensure a radical procedure, the lower lobe of the right lung was removed using a video-assisted technique. The intraoperative histological examination confirmed the diagnosis of lung adenocarcinoma, as suspected by the pre-operative tests.” Vatican News, the Vatican’s own outlet, places the operation at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital and says it took place on Tuesday afternoon.

Outlets carry slightly different English renderings of the medical statement. CBS News, with AP, quotes it as: “To ensure a radical resection, the lower lobe of the right lung was removed using a video-assisted technique,” and “Intraoperative histological examination confirmed the diagnosis of pulmonary adenocarcinoma, as suspected from pre-operative tests.” The BBC says the lobe came out “to ensure the procedure was radical.” Al Jazeera reports that the Holy See’s press office presented the word “radical” as an indication that doctors removed all suspect tissue, in the hope of eliminating any lingering traces of the cancer.

On timing, the press office text says: “The Holy Father was in the operating theatre for approximately three hours; the operation itself lasted about ninety minutes. The operation was successful and there were no complications.” The Guardian and CBS News give the same three-hour and 90-minute split, and the BBC describes “a 90 minute surgery.” DW, by contrast, says the surgery at the Gemelli “lasted about three hours,” after an earlier DW version gave seven hours and DW appended a correction. This desk follows the doctors’ own split. Earlier on Tuesday, before the diagnosis came out, the press office had said: “The procedure was completed successfully, within the expected timeframe and as planned, and the Holy Father has returned to his room,” CBS News reports.

The doctors say that after the operation “the Pope woke up normally and, after a brief period of observation, returned to his room on the tenth floor.” The press office names Margaritora as head of the surgical team, assisted by Professor Elisa Meacci, Dr Maria Teresa Congedo and Dr Leonardo Petracca Caravella; Vatican News spells the last name Ciavarella. Professor Massimo Antonelli, Dr Giovanni Punzo and Dr Giuseppe Bello made up the anesthesia team, the bulletin says. Matteo Bruni, director of the Holy See Press Office, said the pope asked for dinner after the operation and spent the evening with his secretaries and other Vatican staff, Vatican News reports. The Guardian says Leo stays in the 10th-floor private-patient wing rather than the papal suite, which remains under renovation; CBS News, citing the Vatican press office, likewise says the papal apartment there remains under renovation.

Much remains undisclosed. CBS News reports that the Vatican did not say what stage the cancer had reached or whether it may have spread, and did not detail what further procedures the pope may need. A Vatican source told AFP that further tests aimed to show whether the cancer had spread, the BBC and DW report. Al Jazeera, with AP, says the Vatican said doctors do not currently discuss chemotherapy or other therapies while other test results remain pending. Vatican News says post-operative examinations on the removed tissue will follow in the coming days, and that the press office expects to update on Wednesday morning about the pope’s night and any results. DW cites unnamed oncologists as saying Leo has an excellent prognosis because doctors caught the nodule so early; before the diagnosis came out, CBS News, with AP, quoted Dr Lorenzo Spaggiari, director of thoracic surgery at the European Institute of Oncology in Milan, who has no role in the pope’s care: “These are things that can be treated very well, if the words he used reflect the clinical situation.”

Leo himself disclosed the nodule on Sunday at the noon Angelus prayer in St Peter’s Square, according to Al Jazeera and the Guardian. Al Jazeera and CBS News render his Italian remarks as: “The doctors believe it’s best to take action, so, following their advice, I’ve decided to have surgery to remove it.” The Guardian’s translation reads: “The doctors believe it would be right to intervene and so, following their advice, I have decided to have the operation to remove it.” According to the BBC, he called the nodule “contained” and said doctors had found it “at a very early stage.” The pope arrived at the Gemelli at 1:07 p.m. on Tuesday, Vatican News reports, and waved to well-wishers at the main entrance, according to CBS News and Al Jazeera.

Senior clergy voiced concern and praised the pope’s calm. Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, speaking before the operation, said in Vatican News’ English rendering: “I am concerned,” and “because I certainly did not expect something like this to happen.” The BBC carries a different translation of the same remark: “Am I worried? Yes, because I certainly wasn’t expecting anything like this.” Parolin told Rai News, the Guardian reports: “Normally, when these things are caught in time, they can be resolved.” Cardinal Isao Kikuchi, Archbishop of Tokyo, wrote after a Monday audience, per Vatican News: “Though he assured me that this is a minor operation and he feels nothing wrong with his body, and he said he had decided to go for the operation as soon as possible not to change his plan of Latin America visit.” CBS News names the cardinal as “Kikuchi Tsutomu” and the BBC as “Kikuchi Tarcisio Isao”; this desk uses the Vatican News form.

The schedule ahead stays uncertain. Al Jazeera puts the Latin America tour at November 6–17, with stops planned across Uruguay, Argentina and Peru, and says the pope told reporters on Sunday that he intends to make the journey. CBS News says no word has come on whether Leo can keep the trip, and that the typical recommendation after a procedure of this kind involves about three weeks without air travel, which would put him right up against the November 6 start. DW says he still seems likely to travel. The Guardian reports that Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle will lead Wednesday’s weekly papal audience. Lung adenocarcinoma makes up about 40% of all diagnosed lung cancers and ranks as the most common type of lung cancer in the United States, CBS News reports, citing the Lung Cancer Foundation of America. Leo’s predecessor, Francis, spent more than five weeks at the Gemelli for bronchitis that developed into bilateral pneumonia and died at Casa Santa Marta on 21 April 2025, the Guardian notes.