ROME and LONDON — Pope Leo XIV is scheduled to undergo surgery in the «next few days» after doctors found a nodule on his lung, he said on Sunday.
«Recently during some check ups doctors found a circumscribed nodule in my lung,» the pontiff, 71, said during an appearance at the window of the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace, overlooking a sunny St. Peter’s Square. «It was found in a very initial phase and well localized. The doctors think it is opportune to intervene.»
Pope Leo XIV delivers the Angelus prayer in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican, Sunday, Oct. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Gregorio Borgia/AP Photo
The Vatican press office said in a statement shortly afterward that the procedure was scheduled for «early» this week, adding that the «expected length of the postoperative hospital stay is about one week.»
The pope is scheduled to be operated on in Rome’s Gemelli Hospital, the primary medical facility commonly used by popes, including Leo’s immediate predecessor, Pope Francis, who died in 2025 at the age of 88.
Faithful carry an image of the Lord of Miracles on their shoulders during a procession in St. Peter’s Square before Pope Leo XIV’s Angelus prayer at the Vatican, Sunday, Oct. 11, 2026.
Gregorio Borgia/AP Photo
Leo, a Chicago native and the first American pope, who was previously Cardinal Robert Prevost, was elected the church’s 267th pontiff in May 2025.
Before Leo announced on Sunday that he will be operated on, and while greeting the groups present in the square, he greeted a Peruvian Catholic group and said, «Thank you for your prayer for my apostolic visit that I will make to Peru.»
People walk in Via della Conciliazione, near the Vatican, with St. Peter’s Basilica visible in the background, after Pope Leo said doctors had detected a very early-stage nodule in his lung, and that he would undergo surgery in the coming days, in Rome, Italy, October 11, 2026.
Matteo Minnella/Reuters
Leo is officially scheduled to make a trip to Uruguay, Argentina and Peru between Nov. 6 and 17. His remark on Sunday appeared to indicate he still intended to travel to those countries.
Giorgia Meloni, the Italian prime minister, said in a statement in Italian that she and her government were expressing solidarity «with the Holy Father as he faces the ordeal ahead in the coming days.»
«The serenity and calm with which he spoke about it during today’s Angelus are a source of comfort to us,» Meloni said. «I am certain that the Italian people, too, will not fail to offer their support and affection.»
