Pope Leo XIV has undergone surgery to remove a lung nodule, which the Vatican said was completed “successfully, on schedule and as planned.” The 71-year-old Leo returned to his room after the surgery at Rome’s Gemelli hospital, according to a statement from the Vatican spokesman. Leo had walked into the hospital through the main entrance earlier on Tuesday, waving to dozens of well-wishers who had gathered to greet him. The Vatican said the surgery would be performed by a team led by Gemelli’s chief thoracic surgeon, Dr Stefano Margaritora.
The American pontiff has offered a rare level of transparency about the first publicly disclosed major health problem of his 17-month papacy. He revealed the discovery of the small, localized nodule during his Sunday noon prayer and announced that he would have it removed.
The surgery, which is usually performed under general anesthesia, will require a week-long hospital stay. The Vatican had canceled on Monday all Leo’s audiences through October 20.
“These are things that can be treated very well, if the words he used reflect the clinical situation,” said Dr Lorenzo Spaggiari, director of thoracic surgery at the European Institute of Oncology, or EIO, in Milan, who is not involved in the pope’s care but knows the team at Gemelli.
The Gemelli hospital has a papal apartment that past popes used whenever needing hospitalization, complete with a private chapel on the 10th floor. However, Leo is due to stay in a nearby room, as the papal apartment is currently undergoing renovations, according to the Vatican press office.
This is believed to be the second hospitalization for Leo, who is known to be sporty and in good shape. As a young missionary priest, he came down with typhoid fever in 1985, soon after arriving in Chulucanas, Peru.
The illness and hospitalization were a cathartic moment for him to decide to stay in the poverty and discomfort of Peru after living in relative comfort in Rome — a decision that ultimately paved the way to his papacy, according to an interview the now-pope gave to Elise Ann Allen in 2025 for “Pope Leo XIV: The Biography.”
According to the book, Leo said he prayed to God to let him die rather than suffer the “horrible” pain of the fever. “I was hooked up to an IV, and I said, ‘If this is your sense of humor, Lord, I think you could do a little better.’
“Obviously, I survived; I recovered, but it turned out to be a very significant moment for me, because it was like, ‘Well, you’ve already dealt with the illness; you already see what the needs are here — the order, the Augustinians, the church are telling you, ‘We need you here; go for it.’ I never looked back.”