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VATICAN CITY - Pope Leo XIV left hospital on Saturday to return to the Vatican, five days after his lung cancer surgery.
The 71-year-old leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics walked unaided to his waiting car, stopping to speak to well-wishers outside Gemelli Hospital in Rome.
Leo had been at the hospital north of the Vatican since Tuesday, when doctors removed part of his right lung to extract a cancerous tumour.
“Considering the blood tests, the chest X-ray done this morning, and evaluating the clinical picture, the Holy Father has been deemed fit for discharge,” doctors Luigi Carbone and Stefano Margaritora wrote in a note published by the Vatican.
The Vatican press office said earlier that the pope would return to the Vatican. “Tomorrow (Sunday) he will recite the Angelus prayer from the window of the papal apartment,” it said.
Leo celebrated mass on Saturday, as he has in recent days, in a room on the 10th floor of the hospital where he was recovering.
Pope Leo XIV waves from a car taking him back to the Vatican to continue his recovery, on Oct 17, 2026. (Photo: AFP)
Awaiting more news
News that the otherwise healthy and sporty pope had a cancerous tumour removed from his lung has rattled the Vatican and the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics.
But his doctors have said Leo’s recovery has been progressing normally as they await the results of tests that will determine the course of action to take.
Leo has resumed some work, making a call on Friday to Russian President Vladimir Putin to urge a ceasefire in the Russian-occupied Ukrainian city of Oleshky.
Up in the air, however, is a planned papal voyage to South America, scheduled for Nov 6-17 to visit Uruguay, Argentina and Peru.
Pope watchers say that Leo — who spent two decades as a missionary in Peru — is anxious to make the long journey, but will likely follow the recommendations of his doctors.
Leo has cancelled all his audiences until Oct 20.
The pope himself announced to the public in St Peter’s Square last Sunday, following the Angelus prayer, that a routine medical examination had revealed a nodule that doctors recommended should be removed.
