Pope Leo XIV has announced he will be operated “in the coming days” after a nodule was found on his lung during a medical check up.
“The doctors found an early, well-localised nodule on my lung,” he told the public during his weekly Sunday prayers in St Peter’s Square in Rome.
The 71-year-old pontiff said his medical team “believe it would be right to intervene” and he had agreed to the operation.
Pope Leo reassured pilgrims that the mass was “well-contained” and caught “at an early stage”.
He concluded his Angelus prayer by thanking everyone for their “spiritual closeness” and said he entrusted himself to their prayers.
Holy See Press Office spokesperson Matteo Bruni told the media that “the operation is scheduled for the first days of next week”.
Bruni added that the Pope is expected to take about a week to recover.
Vatican News, the Holy See’s news portal, said the operation will take place at Gemelli Hospital in Rome.
The hospital set up a special Papal suite following the failed assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II’s life in May 1981, which is still in use today.
Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni expressed her “personal solidarity” to the Pope in a post on X as he “faces the ordeal ahead in the coming days”.
She was echoed by Italian President Sergio Mattarella, who offered “my sincerest wishes for a peaceful recovery and a speedy and full return to health”.
Isaac Herzog, the president of Israel, also wished the pontiff “a full and speedy recovery”.
Pope Leo, born Robert Francis Provost, succeeded Pope Francis in 2025. He is the 267th occupant of the throne of St Peter – and is the first American.
He was ordained in 1982 and spent years as a missionary in Peru, where he is remembered as a figure who worked with marginalised communities.
During Sunday’s service, the Pope confirmed his visit to Uruguay, Argentina and Peru in November will still go ahead.
The Archbishop of Montevideo, Daniel Sturla, said preparations for the pontiff’s visit will continue with “greater enthusiasm” as he called for prayers for his recovery.
According to the National Health Service, a lung nodule is a small lump of tissue that is usually detected following an X-ray or CT scan of the chest.
Most nodules are do not cause other symptoms.
