ROME and LONDON — Pope Leo XIV departed the Vatican on Tuesday for a hospital in Rome, the place he is scheduled to bear an operation on Tuesday to take away a nodule from his lung.
“As introduced, Pope Leo XIV has been admitted to the Agostino Gemelli College Hospital,” the Vatican press workplace stated in an announcement. “This afternoon, he’ll bear surgical procedure for a lung nodule carried out by the thoracic surgical procedure group led by Professor Stefano Margaritora.”
Pope Leo waves from a automobile window as he leaves the Vatican, forward of his hospitalization for surgical procedure to take away a lung nodule, in Rome, Italy, October 13, 2026.
Remo Casilli/Reuters
The Vatican stated extra data could be offered Tuesday night.
The pontiff said on Sunday he would bear surgical procedure for a nodule discovered on his lung, including that operation was to happen within the “subsequent few days.” His restoration on the hospital in Rome was anticipated to final a couple of week, the Vatican stated.
The St. Peter’s Basilica on the day Pope Leo is anticipated to be admitted to hospital for a surgical procedure to take away a lung nodule, in Rome, Italy, October 13, 2026.
Remo Casilli/Reuters
A lung nodule, also called a pulmonary nodule, is a small mass of dense tissue on the lung, in line with the American Lung Association. Leo on Sunday stated the nodule was found by medical doctors in “a really preliminary section” and that it was “nicely localized.”
“The medical doctors assume it’s opportune to intervene,” the 71-year-old stated.
Pope Leo XIV leaves the Vatican earlier than being admitted to Rome’s Gemelli College Hospital for an operation to take away a lump from his lung, within the Vatican on 13 October 2026.
Tiziana Fabi/AFP through Getty Photographs
Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s secretary of State, stated that as he listened to Leo’s announcement on Sunday, he was “struck by his serenity” in line with Vatican media.
“We’re assured,” he reportedly stated, “and naturally all of us accompany him with our prayers and our affection.”
The statue of the late Pope John Paul II and Gemelli Hospital, the place Pope Leo is anticipated to be hospitalised to bear surgical procedure to take away a small development on his lung, in Rome, Italy, October 13, 2026.
Ciro De Luca/Reuters
Gemelli Hospital, which is formally the Policlinico Universitario Fondazione Agostino Gemelli, is the biggest hospital in Rome.
It is the first medical facility generally utilized by popes, together with Leo’s immediate predecessor, Pope Francis, who died in 2025 on the age of 88.
Leo, a Chicago native and the primary American pope, who was beforehand Cardinal Robert Prevost, was elected the church’s 267th pontiff in Could 2025.
