Pope Leo XIV to undergo surgery for early-stage lung nodule

Mixed · 2Pope Leo XIV announced on Sunday 11 October that he will undergo surgery to remove a nodule found on his lung. 1 2 Left · 2The 71-year-old made the announcement from the window of the Apostolic Palace at the end of his noon Angelus prayer in St. Peter's Square. 1 3 Mixed · 2He said doctors discovered the nodule during recent medical examinations, that it was detected at a very early stage and is well localised (Reuters renders this as "well-contained"), and that following their advice he decided to have it removed. 1 4

Mixed · 2The operation is already scheduled for "the next few days", and he thanked the crowd and asked for their prayers. 4 1 Mixed · 3Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said the hospitalisation would come in the "first days" of the week and recovery is expected to take about a week; the surgery is expected at Rome's Gemelli Hospital, according to CBS and to Vatican sources cited by Fox News. 5 6 4 Right · 1The Vatican has not said whether the nodule is cancerous and gave no further details of the diagnosis or procedure. 6

Centre · 2Reuters noted that a lung nodule is a small lesion that can be benign, and that the American Thoracic Society says fewer than 5 per cent of lung nodules overall prove cancerous, though risk rises with age, size and other factors. 4 7 Left · 3Reuters called it the first health scare of Leo's tenure; he was elected in May 2025, is the first American pope, plays tennis and is not known to have had earlier health problems. 4 1 5 Mixed · 3It is unclear whether the surgery will affect his planned trip to Uruguay, Argentina and Peru in November, given as 6-17 November by Reuters and Fox and 7-16 November by CBS. 7 5 6

Mixed · 2In the same address, Leo appealed for an end to the war in Ukraine and for safe passage of grain shipments across the Black Sea. 1 6