It took 90 minutes in the operating room.
On Tuesday, doctors removed the right lower lobe of Pope Leo XIV’s lung after detecting a cancerous mass. It was not routine surgery: it was a response to a suspicion that earlier tests had already been pointing to.
The Vatican explained in a statement: the procedure “confirmed the diagnosis of pulmonary adenocarcinoma, as suspected based on the preoperative tests”. In other words, what had been feared before entering the operating room was confirmed once inside.
One question remains unanswered. When asked whether there were signs that the cancer had spread, a Vatican source replied that further tests are being carried out. For now, there is no answer, only the wait for the results.