Pope Leo XIV Discharged From Hospital After Surgery, Lung Cancer Diagnosis

Pope Leo XIV was discharged Saturday afternoon from Rome’s Agostino Gemelli University Hospital after a Tuesday operation to remove a cancerous tumor from his lung.

“At the time of his discharge from the hospital, Pope Leo was in entirely satisfactory clinical condition,” Dr. Stefano Margaritora — the director of the hospital’s thoracic surgery unit who operated on the pope — told Vatican News in an interview published Saturday. He also noted that the supreme pontiff’s blood test results were “completely normal” while his heart function was “fine.”

The Holy See Press Office did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

Pope Leo announced Oct. 11 he would undergo an operation to remove a “localized nodule,” an irregular lump of tissue, in his lung.

The surgical team confirmed an adenocarcinoma diagnosis — a common type of cancer which originates in the glandular cells — after removing the nodule from the lower lobe of his left lung during the roughly 90-minute operation, the Holy See Press Office stated in a Tuesday press release.

“The discovery of the Pope’s malignant lung tumor was entirely accidental, as unfortunately often happens,” Margaritora told Vatican News. “During routine abdominal examinations, this small spot was found in the chest, at the base of the lung … However, if this small spot had been a little higher up, it certainly would not have been seen.”