Pope Leo XIV left the Gemelli Polyclinic in Rome this Saturday after being discharged, four days after undergoing surgery for a lung adenocarcinoma, and returned to the Vatican, where he is scheduled to preside over the Angelus prayer from the window of his study in the Apostolic Palace this Sunday.
The 71-year-old pontiff left the medical center walking normally and with a smile, greeting patients and faithful gathered at the main entrance of Gemelli.
Before getting into the official Vatican vehicle, he stopped for a few minutes to chat with a girl and her family.
The discharge was authorized after an assessment that included blood tests and a chest X-ray conducted that morning, as well as a general evaluation of his clinical condition.
"It was deemed suitable for hospital discharge based on the results of blood tests and a chest X-ray conducted on Saturday morning, in addition to an assessment of his clinical condition," reported doctors Luigi Carbone and Professor Stefano Margaritora.
Before departing, the Pope celebrated a midday Mass in a room converted into a chapel within the area where he had been hospitalized since Tuesday, October 13, the date of the surgery.
The surgery, which lasted approximately 90 minutes and concluded without complications, involved the removal of the lower lobe of the right lung using a video-assisted technique.
The intraoperative histological examination confirmed the diagnosis of pulmonary adenocarcinoma, the most common subtype of lung cancer, as suspected from previous tests.
The tumor was discovered accidentally during routine abdominal tests. When the lung bases were visualized due to the shape of the diaphragm, the doctors detected a small spot.
The very León XIV did not display any respiratory symptoms, and it was he himself who publicly announced on Sunday, October 11, during the Angelus in St. Peter's Square, that he would undergo surgery.
During his hospitalization, the Pope held a phone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin, celebrated mass in the hospital's makeshift chapel, and met with his key collaborators, all signs of a recovery that his doctors described as "commendable."
Margaritora, a professor of Thoracic Surgery at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart and director of the Thoracic Surgery Unit at Gemelli, described the operation as technically routine, yet humanly exceptional.
"Having operated on a Pope has been an intimate emotion that I can't even begin to describe," he stated in an interview granted to Vatican media.
Regarding the apostolic trip to Uruguay, Argentina, and Peru, scheduled from November 6 to 17, the surgeon was emphatic: “I would say that there are no clinical reasons preventing this trip from taking place,” asserted Margaritora, who estimated that the Pope will need about 10 more days to achieve a full physical recovery, a timeline that would leave three weeks of margin before embarking on the Latin American journey.
Meanwhile, the Pope's older brother, Louis Prevost, 74 years old, is undergoing treatment in Florida for a relapse of multiple myeloma, adding a difficult personal dimension to the moment the Pope's family is experiencing. Prevost is also facing his own cancer diagnosis while his brother is recovering in Rome.
The doctors are still awaiting the final results of the tests to understand the molecular and genetic composition of the tumor, determine if it has spread beyond the removed lobe, and decide whether additional treatment will be necessary.
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