Pope Leo won't need further treatment following lung cancer surgery

Doctors have confirmed Pope Leo XIV needs "no further treatment" following his Oct. 13 surgery for lung cancer.

In an Oct. 21 message, the Holy See Press Office announced that Drs. Luigi Carbone and Stefano Margaritora said "the final histological examinations and molecular biology tests on the material removed" during the surgery confirmed the tumor was a "localized lung adenocarcinoma."

The doctors said that "subsequent oncological evaluation confirmed that no further treatment is necessary."

The message came hours after Leo held his first weekly general audience since the surgery, where he appeared in good spirits, greeting visitors from around the world in St. Peter's Square as usual. He opened the audience by thanking God and the faithful for their prayers following surgery to remove a cancerous tumor from his right lung.

Leo was discharged from Rome's Gemelli hospital last Saturday, and appeared briefly the following day at the window of his apartment during the Oct. 18 Sunday Angelus address. 

The day of his release from the hospital, lead surgeon Dr. Stefano Margaritora told Vatican News that he saw no clinical reason to cancel the pope's planned trip to South America.

"As for a long trip involving air travel in about three weeks, I would say there are no clinical reasons why it should not take place," Margaritora said, indicating that he believed from a medical standpoint that Pope Leo could be ready to undertake the demanding visit to Latin America scheduled for Nov. 6-17.