Nearly three days after undergoing a successful lung cancer surgery at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital, the first official images of Pope Leo XIV have been released by the Vatican, offering the public a first look at the 71-year-old pontiff following his procedure. In the photographs shared Friday, the Chicago-born Pope is seen standing behind a temporary altar on the hospital’s 10th floor, clad in a green liturgical robe, as he celebrated Mass alongside the facility’s medical and nursing teams.
During the service, the pontiff personally thanked the hospital staff for their dedicated care throughout his treatment, the Vatican press office confirmed in an official statement. Clinical updates from his medical team released the same day indicate the Pope’s recovery is progressing far better than initial projections. Testing has documented consistent, steady improvement in his overall health, and follow-up chest X-rays confirm the operated lung is healing well.
The radical surgery, performed Tuesday afternoon, removed the entire lower lobe of Pope Leo XIV’s right lung — a step clinicians took to ensure all cancerous tissue was fully extracted. Per the Vatican’s initial post-operative updates, the pontiff woke from anesthesia without complications, spent a restful, peaceful night in his hospital room after a short observation period, and has not experienced any adverse events in the days since the procedure.
Weeks before the operation, during his weekly Sunday address to crowds gathered in St. Peter’s Square, Pope Leo XIV publicly announced his upcoming surgery. He told attendees that clinicians had detected an early-stage, well-contained nodule on his lung during routine testing, and medical providers had recommended surgical removal as the best course of care. While lung nodules are extremely common and often non-cancerous, post-operative pathological analysis confirmed the nodule was malignant, matching findings from pre-operative diagnostic testing. The pontiff received a formal diagnosis of lung adenocarcinoma. Notably, the Vatican has emphasized that Pope Leo XIV showed no symptoms of lung disease or cancer before the nodule was identified during screening.
Per current recovery projections, the pontiff will remain under observation and care at Gemelli Hospital for approximately one more week to continue his recovery before any plans for discharge are finalized.