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ROME and LONDON — Pope Leo XIV will be discharged from Rome’s Gemelli Polyclinic on Saturday after doctors deemed him fit to leave following surgery on his right lung, according to a statement from his medical team.
The pope is expected to leave the hospital in the early afternoon and return to the Vatican.
“Based on the blood tests and chest X-ray performed this morning, and after evaluating his clinical condition, the Holy Father has been deemed fit for discharge,” Dr. Luigi Carbone and Prof. Stefano Margaritora said in a statement.
The pope will recite the Angelus prayer from the window of the papal apartment on Sunday, according to the statement.
The pope resumed work activities on Thursday, just days after undergoing an operation, the Vatican said.
Leo was diagnosed with lung adenocarcinoma, which is the most common subtype of non-small cell lung cancer, accounting for roughly 40% of all lung cancer cases, according to the Lung Cancer Foundation of America.
TOPSHOT – Flowers, candles and a picture of Pope Leo XIV are laid at the statue of John Paul II outside the Gemelli University Hospital, where Pope Leo XIV is recovering after undergoing surgery to remove a cancerous tumour from his right lung, in Rome on October 17, 2026.
Tiziana Fabi/AFP via Getty Images
Lung adenocarcinoma begins in cells in the lung that make mucus, called epithelial cells, which line the surface of the lungs, the American Cancer Society says.
Leo was in the operating room for about three hours, with the surgery itself lasting approximately 90 minutes, according to doctors.
The surgery was described as “successful” with no complications.
The Vatican previously said that his recovery at Rome’s Agostino Gemelli University Hospital was expected to last about a week.
