Vatican denies Pope Francis brain tumour report

The Vatican has denied a report in an Italian newspaper that Pope Francis has a small, curable brain tumour.

A Vatican spokesman said the report in the National Daily was “unfounded and seriously irresponsible”.

“The pope is carrying out as always with his intense activities,” the Rev Federico Lombardi said in a statement.

Citing unnamed sources, the newspaper said the pope had travelled to the San Rossore di Barbaricina clinic near Pisa in recent months to see a Japanese specialist, Dr Takanori Fukushima.

The newspaper said the doctor determined that the small dark spot on Francis’s brain could be cured without surgery.

The newspaper’s editor, Andrea Cangini, said it expected the denial but stood by its story.