Pope Leo enters hospital, surgery on lung nodule set for Tuesday afternoon

VATICAN CITY, Oct 13 — Pope Leo will have surgery at Rome's Gemelli hospital on Tuesday ​afternoon to remove a small growth on one of his lungs, in the first major health issue of his 17-month tenure.

Leo, 71, said on ‌Sunday that the growth, a small nodule, had been found on a recent check-up, was "well-contained" and had been ⁠spotted early.

The Vatican confirmed the timing ​of the surgery after Leo was seen ⁠leaving the Vatican in a convoy of vehicles headed for Gemelli hospital, about ‌9 km (5.6 miles) north ‌of the Vatican.

The Vatican has said his recovery is expected to take ⁠about a week. All his public events ⁠have been cancelled until October 20.

Leo, elected by the world's cardinals in May 2025, is relatively young for a Church leader. He enjoys sports, including tennis, and is not known to be a smoker or to have had health issues previously.

A nodule on the lung is a small, localised lesion that can ‌be benign. The American Thoracic Society says fewer than ​5% of lung nodules overall prove cancerous, although risk rises with age, size, and other factors such as smoking.

Dr. Federico Venuto, chief of thoracic surgery at Rome's Policlinico Umberto I hospital, said procedures to remove lung nodules are usually minimally invasive, and can sometimes involve use of a thin camera tube called a thoracoscope.

"The complication rate is extremely low," he told Reuters.

The late Pope ​Francis, Leo's predecessor, died at age 88 in April 2025 and was hospitalised several times as ‌he grew frail ‌in his ⁠later years.

Leo, who spoke in a firm, clear voice at his only public event on Monday, keeps a very busy schedule. He is due to make an 11-day tour of Uruguay, Argentina and Peru from November 6 to 17.

In the same address ‌on Sunday when the pope ​announced his need for surgery, he pledged ‌he would go forward with ⁠the trip.

(Reporting by ​Joshua McElwee, Additional reporting by Cristiano Corvino and Clara Schoenthaler, Editing by Andrew Cawthorne and ​Keith Weir)

Related topics