Pope Leo XIV Is Eating, Walking and Saying Mass After Cancer Surgery — but His Latin America Trip Is in Question

Pope Leo XIV Is Eating, Walking and Saying Mass After Cancer Surgery — but His Latin America Trip Is in Question

Out of bed and eating a day later

Pope Leo XIV has resumed his regular diet, begun walking around his hospital room and celebrated Mass, the Vatican said on Wednesday, a day after surgeons removed a cancerous mass from his right lung. The 71-year-old pontiff ate both breakfast and lunch as usual and started respiratory physiotherapy. The director of the Vatican press office, Matteo Bruni, said the pope was in good spirits.

Blood work and X-ray 'within the expected range'

In a bulletin issued by the Vatican, the pope's personal doctor, Luigi Carbone, and Stefano Margaritora, head of thoracic surgery at Gemelli hospital, said blood tests and a chest X-ray carried out as scheduled after the operation showed "normal post-operative progress," with values "within the expected range for the type of procedure performed." "Recovery is proceeding as expected," they wrote. The Vatican had earlier said the pope spent "a tranquil night" in hospital.

Mass with his secretaries on the 10th floor

Late on Wednesday the Vatican added that the pope had celebrated Mass in the afternoon with his secretaries in a special chapel set up for him on the 10th floor of Gemelli. That floor houses the papal wing; because the papal suite is being refurbished, Leo is staying in a neighbouring ordinary room. The wing, which John Paul II called the "third Vatican," has been reserved for popes since the 1980s.

A 'radical' removal of the lower lobe

Tuesday's operation at Rome's Agostino Gemelli University Policlinic lasted about 90 minutes, with the pope in the operating room for roughly three hours. The Vatican said surgeons used video-assisted minimally invasive chest surgery to remove the entire lower lobe of his right lung "to ensure the procedure was radical." Tissue tests confirmed lung adenocarcinoma, the most common form of lung cancer, matching what pre-operative exams had suggested.

The lymph nodes: still no answer

The Vatican has not disclosed the size of the tumour or said whether the cancer has reached the lymph nodes. Experts say some of the pope's lymph nodes would also have been removed and tested during surgery to determine whether the disease had spread; those results have not been made public. Dr. Stephen Liu, a lung cancer specialist at Georgetown's Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, said: "While we know the diagnosis, we now need to know the stage" — how large the tumour is, how many spots in the lung are involved, and whether the lymph nodes are cancerous.

No talk of chemotherapy yet

The Vatican said doctors are not currently discussing chemotherapy or other therapies pending the results of other tests. If the cancer has spread, those results will guide treatment. Options, according to Dr. Liu, include chemotherapy, a combination of chemotherapy and immunotherapy, or targeted therapy — oral pills aimed at cancers with specific characteristics.

Back on his feet within 48 to 72 hours

Dr. PierCarlo Gentile, head of radiation oncology at Rome's San Pietro Fatebenefratelli Hospital, said the kind of video-assisted minimally invasive surgery the pope underwent typically allows patients to be back on their feet within 48 to 72 hours, while recovery from the surgery itself takes 15 to 20 days. Post-operative complications, including infections, are rare, he said. Alain Gelibter, an oncologist at Rome's Policlinico Umberto I hospital, told AFP that if the disease is stage I or II and the recovery goes well, "the patient can resume a normal life and usual activities within a few weeks."

A 12-day, 10-city tour in doubt

The open question is the trip. Under the itinerary released by the Holy See Press Office in September, Leo was to visit Uruguay, Argentina and Peru from Nov. 6 to 17 — 12 days and 10 cities, his first journey to the Americas since his election in May 2025, and the first papal visit to Uruguay since John Paul II in 1988. It includes a return to Chiclayo in Peru, the diocese where he served as bishop from 2014 to 2023. Oncologists often advise patients not to fly for three weeks after surgery, which would leave the pope only just enough time to make the Nov. 6 departure. Cardinal Kikuchi Tsutomu of Tokyo, who saw Leo on Monday, said the pope told him he felt well and had decided to have surgery promptly "so as not to change his plans for future overseas trips."

Peru's president says the timing may change

Peruvian President Keiko Fujimori said on Wednesday that the timing of the Latin America visit could change because of the pope's health. Reports from Uruguay said the Peruvian government had not yet altered the plan. Cardinal Daniel Sturla, archbishop of Montevideo, tempered expectations: "First, let us pray that he comes. We run the risk of being told in the coming days that he won't be able to come," he told local media, adding that the decision would ultimately rest with the pope's doctors.

South Americans pray, and wait

In Uruguay, the visit is expected to energise a Catholic minority; in Rome, Cardinal Reina led a rosary at the hospital chapel for the pope.