Pope Leo XIV Shares Major Health Update, Plans for Surgery

Pope Leo XIV will soon undergo surgery after doctors discovered a nodule in one of his lungs.

Leo, born Robert Francis Provost and ranking as the first United States citizen to lead the worldwide Catholic Church, shared the health update in an X post on Sunday morning.

“Dear friends, during some recent medical examinations, the doctors found a small, localized nodule in my lung,” the October 11 post reads. “It was detected at a very early stage and is well-localized.”

Leo’s announcement continued: “The doctors believe that it is best to intervene, so, following their advice, I have decided to undergo surgery to remove it. The operation is already scheduled to take place in the coming days. I thank you for your spiritual closeness and entrust myself to your prayers.”

Matteo Bruni, director of the Holy See Press Office, said the operation is “scheduled for the first days of next week” and that the pontiff will spend about a week in post-operative recovery, according to Vatican News, the Holy See’s official news portal. Vatican News also noted the operation will take place at the Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli hospital in Rome, Italy.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni expressed “personal solidarity” with Leo as he “faces the ordeal ahead in the coming days,” BBC News reported. Italian President Sergio Mattarella, meanwhile, shared “sincerest wishes for a peaceful recovery and a speedy and full return to health.”

Leo did confirm on Sunday, however, that his visit to Uruguay, Argentina, and Peru next month is still scheduled.

The Gemelli hospital is where Pope John Paul II was treated several times, including when he suffered an abdominal gunshot wound in a 1981 assassination attempt, when he had an intestinal tumor removed in 1992, and when he had his appendix excised in 1996, as BBC News reported in 2005. The facility became known as “the third Vatican,” following the Holly See and John Paul II’s summer residence at Castel Gandolfo outside Rome.

More recently, Pope Francis — Leo’s immediate predecessor — stayed at the same hospital four times, including during his pneumonia treatment two months before his 2025 death, according to The New York Times.