The most revealing account yet of Pope Leo XIV's cancer surgery has come from the man who performed it. Professor Stefano Margaritora, chief thoracic surgeon at Rome's Gemelli Hospital, said the tumour was discovered accidentally during routine abdominal examinations, appearing as 'a small spot' at the base of the lung, CBS News and Vatican reporting said on Saturday.
Had the spot sat higher in the lung, Margaritora noted, 'it certainly would not have been seen.' The cancer was caught at an early stage: the pope had 'no respiratory symptoms, and felt perfectly well.' A biopsy before admission confirmed the diagnosis that the Vatican only publicly called malignant after Tuesday's successful operation.
Margaritora described the 90-minute procedure to remove the lower lobe of the right lung as 'routine' and 'without complications,' while admitting it 'stirred deep feelings' to operate on a pope — the first, at least in modern history, to undergo surgery for a malignant tumour. Pathology confirmed lung adenocarcinoma, the most common form of lung cancer.
Of the recovery, the surgeon said the pope had required 'very little assistance from us' and praised his determination to recover quickly as 'truly commendable.' Leo, 71, was discharged on Saturday, celebrated Mass on the hospital's 10th floor before leaving, thanked the healthcare staff, and walked unaided to his car, pausing to speak with a 13-year-old Ukrainian girl, Varvara, who is in Italy for cancer treatment.
He is due to lead Sunday's Angelus from the Apostolic Palace window at noon in Rome. Public audiences remain suspended through October 20, and doctors have not yet disclosed the tumour's size or whether the disease had spread to nearby lymph nodes — the details that will shape his prognosis and the pace of a papacy only 17 months old.
