Pope Leo XIV celebrates Mass marking the start of the academic year at the Pontifical Universities in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Oct. 8, 2026. (OSV News/Reuters/Remo Casilli)
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Pope Leo XIV will be admitted to the hospital on Tuesday (Oct. 13) for surgery to remove a lump found in his lung, the Vatican said, marking a change to the pope's schedule amid his first health scare as pope.
A day after Leo announced that doctors had found a "well-localized" nodule in his lung, the Vatican press hall confirmed that he will be admitted to Rome's Gemelli Hospital, where popes typically receive treatment, for surgery to remove the lump. He is expected to spend a week in the hospital for recovery.
A lung nodule is a small abnormal area of less than an inch that appears in the chest or abdomen during a CT scan, according to the American Cancer Society. Most lung nodules are not cancerous.
Leo said his nodule was found "at an early stage," and the Vatican confirmed that it was detected in the course of routine medical tests.
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Though the pope maintained a full schedule on Monday (Oct. 12), his admission to the hospital on Tuesday means Leo will skip the close of a summit of the world's top bishops currently taking place at the Vatican planned for the following day.
The Mass to close that summit, centered on Catholic teaching around the family, will be celebrated by Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, who Leo appointed dean of the College of Cardinals last week.
Jesuit Fr. Giacomo Costa, a consultant to the Vatican's synod office, told reporters that the pope asked that the summit's summary report not be published at its close so that he can review it and add comments upon being discharged.
The National Catholic Reporter's Rome Bureau is made possible in part by the generosity of Joan and Bob McGrath.
