POPE LEO ANGELUS POST SURGERY
Vatican News

Pope Leo tells faithful in St. Peter's Square he will gradually resume duties after cancer surgery

Vatican

Pope Leo XIV thanked thousands of faithful in St. Peter's Square on Sunday for their prayers while he was hospitalized for an operation to remove a malignant tumor, and said he plans to gradually return to his usual duties. The crowd erupted in cheers when the pontiff showed himself in the window overlooking the square, where a week ago on the same occasion of the traditional Angelus blessing he revealed that a nodule had been located on his lung, and that it would be surgically removed.

 

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Pope Leo XIV smiles as a person takes a cellphone photo as the pontiff arrives at Rome's Gemelli Hospital Oct. 13, 2026, ahead of his surgery that afternoon. (OSV News/Reuters/Ciro De Luca)

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Leo's calm amid cancer diagnosis spotlights another side of his pontificate

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Pope Leo XIV leaves following a Mass marking the start of the academic year at the Pontifical Universities, in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Oct. 8, 2026. On Oct. 11, he announced that he would undergo surgery to remove a lung nodule. (OSV News/Reuters/Remo Casilli)

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POPE LEO ANGELUS POST SURGERY
Vatican News

Pope Leo tells faithful in St. Peter's Square he will gradually resume duties after cancer surgery

Pope Leo XIV thanked thousands of faithful in St. Peter's Square on Sunday for their prayers while he was hospitalized for an operation to remove a malignant tumor, and said he plans to gradually return to his usual duties. The crowd erupted in cheers when the pontiff showed himself in the window overlooking the square, where a week ago on the same occasion of the traditional Angelus blessing he revealed that a nodule had been located on his lung, and that it would be surgically removed.

 

Pope Leo XIV leaves Rome's Gemelli hospital Oct. 17, 2026, four days after surgery to remove lung cancer. (AP/Gregorio Borgia)
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Pope Leo XIV, followed by surgeon Stefano Margaritora, Archbishop Petar Rajič, prefect of the Papal Household, and Commander of the Vatican Gendarmerie Gianluca Gauzzi Broccoletti, leaves Rome's Agostino Gemelli Polyclinic on Oct. 17, 2026, after surgery Oct. 13 to remove lung cancer. (AP/Alessandra Tarantino)
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