Pope Leo XIV left hospital to enthusiastic cheers and applause from well-wishers and returned home to the Vatican on Saturday, four days after undergoing surgery for lung cancer.
On Sunday, Leo plans to recite the Angelus prayer from the window of the Apostolic Palace overlooking St Peter’s Square, as is customary, the Vatican said. 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. The 71-year-old pope was seen crossing the lobby of the Gemelli hospital on foot and exiting the building, smiling as he shook hands and waved. Up in the air, however, has been a planned papal voyage to South America, scheduled for November 6-17 to visit Uruguay, Argentina and Peru, where Leo spent two decades as a missionary. Leo has cancelled all his audiences until October 20.
“His determination to achieve a very quick and very effective recovery from every point of view was really commendable,” Margaritora said. But Margaritora said he believed there were “no clinical reasons why the trip should not go ahead”. “All in all I believe that in another ten days or so the pope could be fully recovered,” he said. The cancer survivor said she had met the pope last year in Rome, “and he blessed me for a successful treatment. “With his support, I’ve now overcome my illness, and I want to give him my positive energy so that he, too, can overcome his illness as quickly as possible.” (Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
He spoke briefly to the doctors who treated him and hospital officials before pausing to speak with a Ukrainian girl, a cancer survivor who wanted to wish him well in his recovery. Soon after leaving the hospital, the pope’s black SUV was seen driving through a side entrance to the Vatican. The pope had been at the Gemelli hospital, north of the Vatican, since Tuesday when doctors removed the lower part of his right lung to extract a cancerous tumour. News that the otherwise active pope had a cancerous tumour removed from his lung was met with trepidation among the world’s Catholics and other supporters. Dozens of well-wishers gathered to see him off, greeting him with cries of ‘Holiness’. He also briefly stopped when a teenage girl presented him with a homemade papal doll.
Leo’s discharge capped days of uncertainty that rattled the Vatican and the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics, less than two years into the Chicago-born pope’s papacy. Varvara Struck, the 13-year-old Ukrainian girl who spoke with the pope outside the hospital, had earlier Saturday told AFP that she was rooting for him. Earlier reporting noted: Pope Leo discharged after lung cancer surgery, returns to Vatican after 4 days Pope Leo walks out of hospital Earlier reporting noted: Pope Leo XIV returned to the Vatican on Saturday, four days after undergoing lung cancer surgery at Rome’s Gemelli hospital.
Earlier Saturday, his doctors said the pope was “fit for discharge”. Surgeon Stefano Margaritora later told Vatican News that Leo was in “absolutely satisfactory clinical condition,” estimating another ten days before he is fully recovered. Before his discharge, Leo celebrated mass at noon, according to the Vatican, as he has in recent days, in a room on the 10th floor where he has been recovering.
Earlier reporting noted: Leo had greeted patients inside the hospital before walking unaided to his waiting vehicle.
But his doctors have said Leo’s recovery has been progressing well as they await the results of tests that will determine the next course of action to take. Surgeon Margaritora told Vatican News that Leo’s tumour had been discovered by chance, during a routine abdominal X-ray that captured the “little spot” at the base of his right lung. he saluted the pope’s commitment to his recovery, saying he “really put his heart and soul into it, like the most motivated patients” While calling the lung operation “routine”.
