Pope Leo XIV says he will be operated on in ‘coming days’ for lung nodule

Pope Leo XIV on Sunday announced he would be operated on “in the coming days” for a lump on his lung, saying it had been located “at a very early stage.”

“During recent medical checks, a nodule on my lung was found. It has been detected at a very early stage and is very localized,” the 71-year-old said in a weekly address in St. Peter’s Square.

“The doctors believe it would be right to intervene and so, following their advice, I have decided to have the operation to remove it. The operation is already planned in the coming days,” he said.

Following the pope’s statement during his Angelus prayers, the Vatican press office said the expected recovery time from the operation would be around one week.

A statement from the Vatican spokesman, Matteo Bruni, didn’t say when the pope would be hospitalized, but that it would be in the “first days” of the week. He was expected to be treated at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital, which has a special apartment for the pope.

The statement didn’t say what impact, if any, the surgery or weeklong recovery would have on Leo’s planned November 7 to 16 trip to Latin America, but the pope on Sunday asked for prayers for his upcoming trip to Peru especially, where he lived for nearly two decades.

The pope has no previously known health problems and is known to be physically active, with weekly tennis games and swimming at the papal summer retreat in Castel Gandolfo.

Leo, born in Chicago, became the first US pope last year following the death of his Argentine predecessor Francis on April 21, 2025, at the age of 88. Leo was elected leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics on May 8 of that year.

The former Robert Francis Prevost, while less ebullient than his predecessor, has gradually imprinted his style on the leadership of the Catholic Church, finding his voice as he takes on some of the world’s most pressing issues, from bloody conflicts to artificial intelligence.