The Vatican confirmed the diagnosis of lung adenocarcinoma in a medical bulletin issued after the surgery on Tuesday, local time, at Rome's Gemelli hospital. Preoperative tests had suggested the diagnosis, and the 90-minute procedure confirmed it.
"The surgery was successful, and there were no complications," the statement said.
A more detailed update came from the Pope's lead surgeon, Professor Stefano Margaritora, chief of thoracic surgery at the Gemelli hospital. "In order to make the procedure curative, the lower lobe of the right lung was removed using a video-assisted technique," he said. "A rapid intraoperative histological examination confirmed the diagnosis of lung adenocarcinoma, as had been suspected from the preoperative tests."
The Pope has woken up normally and is resting in his hospital room. He was admitted to the Gemelli on Tuesday for surgery on the growth found during a recent health check-up, and left the Vatican shortly before 1pm, waving from the back of a black SUV for the roughly 9-kilometre drive north. On arrival he shook hands with officials and walked past well-wishers shouting "Auguri" (best wishes).
The Vatican expects the Pope to recover in hospital for about a week, and all his public events have been cancelled until October 20.
Pope Leo, elected by the world's cardinals in May 2025, is relatively young for a Church leader. He enjoys sports including tennis and is not known to smoke or to have had recent health problems. He spoke in a firm, clear voice at his only public event on Monday and keeps a very busy schedule, including an 11-day tour of Uruguay, Argentina and Peru planned from November 6 to 17.
His predecessor, Pope Francis, who died in April 2025 at 88, was hospitalised several times as he grew frail in his later years.