“In order to make the procedure curative, the lower lobe of the right lung was removed using a video-assisted technique.”
The Vatican said Tuesday that Pope Leo XIV has lung cancer. That line is from his lead surgeon, Stefano Margaritora, chief of thoracic surgery at Rome’s Gemelli hospital, in an update released with the Vatican’s medical bulletin.
A rapid tissue exam during the operation confirmed lung adenocarcinoma, the most common type, as pre-operative tests had suspected. The surgery took about 90 minutes and had no complications, the Vatican said. The 71-year-old pope woke normally and is resting in his hospital room.
The Result Still Missing
The bulletin gave no stage. Lymph nodes are normally removed and tested to see whether a cancer has spread, and no results had been released when the news broke. The Vatican said doctors were not discussing chemotherapy or other treatment while more tests are pending.
That matters more than the word “cancer.” Adenocarcinoma carries the most favorable outlook of the lung cancers, according to Stephen Liu, a lung cancer specialist at Georgetown. But he said the next thing doctors need is the stage, which tells them whether the surgery was the whole treatment or the first step.
The pope’s own timeline is short. Leo is due to leave Nov. 6 for Uruguay, Argentina and Peru, the longest trip of his papacy. The itinerary runs about 31,000 kilometers, with a dozen flights, two helicopter rides and a steep altitude change in Peru, according to the AP.
Oncologists often tell patients not to fly for three weeks after surgery. We counted it out.
| Date | What happens |
|---|---|
| Oct. 13 | Surgery at Gemelli, about 90 minutes |
| Oct. 20 | All papal audiences cancelled through this date; hospital stay of about a week expected |
| Nov. 3 | Three weeks after surgery, the point oncologists often cite before flying |
| Nov. 6 | Scheduled departure for Uruguay, Argentina and Peru |
| Nov. 17 | Trip ends |
Three weeks from Oct. 13 is Nov. 3. Departure is Nov. 6. That leaves three days of slack, with twelve flights behind it.
The calendar was steering the medicine before anyone had a diagnosis. Cardinal Kikuchi Tsutomu of Tokyo, who saw Leo on Monday, said the pope chose to have surgery soon “in order to not change his plans for future overseas trips.” The trip did not sit politely behind the diagnosis. It set when the diagnosis got made.
Here is what we think. The pathology should decide the trip, and the date should not. Leo disclosed the nodule himself at his Sunday noon blessing, which is the right instinct, and it creates a standard. The Vatican should say plainly, and soon, what the stage is and whether his surgeons will clear him to fly.
There is no deputy to step in. When a pope cannot work, the Vatican’s bureaucracy keeps running and holds off on anything that needs his approval. That is a reason to take the doctors’ advice on the trip seriously, not a reason to protect a schedule.
The next marker is Oct. 20, when his audiences are due to resume. The lymph node result should come before that, and it will say more about November than any itinerary.