Pope undergoes scheduled surgery

Pope Léon XIV left the Vatican in a convoy on October 13, 2026, around 1:00 p.m. local time, heading to Rome's Gemelli Hospital for a scheduled hospitalization, confirmed the Vatican Press Office. The pope is scheduled to undergo surgery this afternoon for a pulmonary nodule detected at an early stage.

Surgery details and hospital location

The procedure will be performed by the team of Professor Stefano Margaritora, a specialist in thoracic surgery, under general anesthesia. The pope is expected to remain in this clinic in the northwest of Rome, on the 10th floor of the hospital, for a week.

Pulmonary nodule explained

A pulmonary nodule is a lesion, more or less rounded, less than 3 cm in diameter, located in healthy lung tissue. The term varies according to size: it is called a micronodule when the diameter is less than 10 mm and mass when the diameter is greater than 3 cm, according to the Montsouris Institute.

Gemelli Hospital's historical significance

The hospital of the popes Many predecessors of Léon XIV have stayed at the Gemelli hospital, inaugurated in 1964. Located about twenty minutes by car from the Vatican, it is part of the University of the Sacred Heart, a Catholic university founded in 1921 in Milan and considered the largest Catholic university in Europe with several campuses in Italy.

Hospital's reputation and past events

An excellence establishment, the Gemelli is considered the best hospital in Italy, according to rankings from the American magazine Newsweek and the Italian press publisher Class. Pope John Paul II, pope from 1978 until his death in 2005, largely contributed to the media coverage of the Roman hospital. It was there, in 1981, that he underwent emergency surgery after being the victim of an assassination attempt on St. Peter's Square.

Surgery's low risk and prognosis

Doctors are to remove a pulmonary nodule from the sovereign pontiff. A procedure generally considered to have low risk by specialists. The nodule was discovered during routine examinations and not as a result of symptoms, the Vatican specified.

Medical perspective on pulmonary nodules

These nodules "can correspond to a whole series of benign lesions - inflammatory, infectious, autoimmune or congenital - or be malignant," notes Professor Federico Venuta, head of the thoracic surgery department at the Policlinico Umberto 1 hospital in Rome. Even if it turned out not to be benign, the Pope's prognosis would be "very positive," he estimated.

Pope's transparency and health statement

On Sunday, at the end of the Angelus prayer, the American Pope had announced that this nodule was discovered "at a very early stage" during recent examinations and was "well localized." "The doctors consider it appropriate to intervene and therefore, following their advice, I have decided to have surgery," he explained. This is an unusual transparency at the Vatican, where communication about the health of the Popes is traditionally restricted.

Upcoming travel and schedule changes

All his appointments have been canceled until October 20, including a large mass on Wednesday to close a world assembly on the family, for which he will be replaced by the new dean of the cardinals, Cardinal Tagle. Pope Leon XIV is scheduled to make a long official trip to Uruguay, Argentina, and Peru from November 6 to 17, a highly anticipated tour with a particularly packed schedule.

Pope's condition and public perception

The Japanese cardinal Tarcisio Isao Kikuchi, who saw the Pope on Monday, told the newspaper La Repubblica that the Pope was "very relaxed, as always, and prone to humor." Canon law does not provide any specific provisions in the event of the Pope's health problems, as the Pope is elected for life.