Vatican: Pope Leo XIV needs no further treatment after lung cancer surgery
- Final tests confirmed the tumour removed from Pope Leo XIV was a localised lung adenocarcinoma.
- The Vatican says no further cancer therapy is required and the pope is recovering at home.
- Doctors see no clinical reason to cancel his planned South American trip next month.
Pope Leo XIV will not need further treatment for lung cancer, the Vatican said on Wednesday, after final tests on tissue removed during his surgery last week confirmed the disease was caught early and had not spread.
The Holy See Press Office said the tissue was a pulmonary adenocarcinoma and that the disease was localised. An oncological assessment afterwards found that no additional therapy is required.
Punch reported that pulmonary adenocarcinoma is the most common type of lung cancer, accounting for about 40 per cent of cases, and often affects non-smokers.
The news will reassure Catholics in Nigeria and across Africa, where the Church has grown quickly in recent years. It also clears the way for the pope to consider resuming a busy schedule.
How the diagnosis came about
Pope Leo told worshippers at the Angelus on October 11 that doctors had found a small nodule in his lung during routine checks and that he would have surgery two days later.
On October 13, surgeons led by Prof. Stefano Margaritora removed the lower lobe of the pope's right lung at Rome's Agostino Gemelli Hospital. The Vatican described the operation as successful and without complications.
Margaritora said the tumour was found by chance during scans done for another reason, and that the pope had shown no breathing symptoms and felt well beforehand.
Pope Leo left hospital on October 17, four days after the surgery, after blood tests and a chest X-ray showed he could go home. He celebrated Mass in a hospital chapel before returning to the Vatican.
On October 18 he led the Sunday Angelus from the balcony of the Apostolic Palace, his first public appearance since the diagnosis. He told the crowd the experience had given him "a profound sense of closeness to all those who are going through illness or a state of infirmity."
What happens next
The pope is expected to keep having follow-up scans. Dr Juanita Mora, a spokesperson for the American Lung Association who was not involved in his care, told CNN that checks are usually done every three to six months in the first few years, then yearly.
Attention now turns to his planned trip to South America next month, with stops expected in Peru, Uruguay and Argentina and at least 14 flights. The Vatican has not officially confirmed the trip will go ahead, but Margaritora told Vatican News he saw "no clinical reasons" to cancel it.
Mora said the pope may be advised to walk during long flights to lower the risk of blood clots, and to take vaccines against COVID-19, influenza and respiratory syncytial virus.
Sources differ on which lung was operated on: Punch reported the left lung, while Sahara Reporters said the right. Both agree the diseased lobe was removed and that no further cancer treatment is needed for now.
