Pope leaves hospital in Rome four days after lung cancer surgery

The Pope has left Rome’s Agostino Gemelli Polyclinic (AP)

The Pope has left Rome’s Gemelli hospital, four days after undergoing surgery for lung cancer.

Dozens of well-wishers greeted Leo XIV as he walked out of the hospital and into a waiting vehicle to return to the Vatican.

The 71-year-old pontiff had the lower lobe of his right lung removed after doctors identified a suspected cancerous nodule. The surgery confirmed he had adenocarcinoma, the most common type of lung cancer.

The Vatican announced that Leo will also deliver the traditional Sunday blessing from a window overlooking St Peter’s Square on Sunday, one week after he announced to the crowd that a nodule had been discovered in his lung.

His personal physician and surgeon said in a separate statement that Leo was “deemed fit for discharge from the hospital” based on blood test results and a chest X-ray performed on Saturday morning along with an assessment of his clinical condition.

With notable transparency, Leo announced last Sunday to the faithful gathered in St Peter’s Square that doctors had identified a nodule on his lung, and that it would be removed.

Since the surgery on Tuesday that confirmed the cancer diagnosis, Leo has given strong indications that he was recovering well, including by holding a phone call with Russian president Vladimir Putin, meeting with top aides and celebrating Mass in a makeshift hospital chapel.

Medical bulletins from his personal physician and surgeon likewise indicated a good post-operative recovery that had allowed him to carry on “normal daily activities completely on his own”.

On Friday, the Vatican released the first images of Leo since his surgery, showing him standing up at an altar in a hospital chapel in green vestments, as doctors said that tests confirmed his “continued improvement”.

The Pope’s next big agenda item is a trip to Latin America from November 6-17, which gives Leo three more weeks of recovery before taking on the ambitious journey that includes a dozen flights and two helicopter trips.

The Vatican has given signs of all-systems go, publishing the names of journalists accredited to fly on Leo’s plane on Friday. Oncology surgeons say protocols generally clear patients to fly after three weeks, as long as recovery allows.

Doctors are still awaiting the results of tests to understand the precise molecular and genetic makeup of Leo’s cancer, whether it has spread beyond the lobe and whether any further treatment is necessary.