Pope Leo XIV to have surgical procedure after lump discovered on lung

Pope Leo XIV has introduced he can be operated “within the coming days” after a nodule was discovered on his lung throughout a medical test up.

“The medical doctors discovered an early, well-localised nodule on my lung,” he informed the general public throughout his weekly Sunday prayers in St Peter’s Square in Rome.

The 71-year-old pontiff mentioned his medical group “imagine it might be proper to intervene” and he had agreed to the operation.

Pope Leo reassured pilgrims that the mass was “well-contained” and caught “at an early stage”.

He concluded his Angelus prayer by thanking everybody for his or her “religious closeness” and mentioned he entrusted himself to their prayers.

Holy See Press Office spokesperson Matteo Bruni informed the media that “the operation is scheduled for the primary days of subsequent week”.

Bruni added that the Pope is predicted to take a couple of week to get better.

Vatican News, the Holy See’s information portal, mentioned the operation will happen at Gemelli Hospital in Rome.

The hospital arrange a particular Papal suite following the failed assassination try on Pope John Paul II’s life in May 1981, which remains to be in use right now.

Pope Leo, born Robert Francis Provost, succeeded Pope Francis in 2025. He is the 267th occupant of the throne of St Peter – and is the primary American.

He was ordained in 1982 and spent years as a missionary in Peru, the place he’s remembered as a determine who labored with marginalised communities and helped construct bridges.