By Sumayya
Pope Leo XIV is leaving the hospital on Saturday, four days after having surgery for lung cancer, and will give his regular Sunday noon blessing from a window looking over St. Peter’s Square, the Vatican shared.
The 71-year-old leader had the bottom part of his right lung taken out after medical teams found a suspicious growth. The operation showed he had adenocarcinoma, which is the most frequent kind of lung cancer.
His private doctor and surgeon mentioned in a different note that Leo was considered well enough to leave the hospital after looking at his blood test details, a morning chest X-ray on Saturday, and his general health state.
He is planned to walk out of the hospital in the early afternoon and go back to his home in the Vatican, according to a short message from the Vatican. Showing a lot of openness, Leo had told the crowd in St. Peter’s Square last Sunday that medical teams found a spot on his lung and that it would be taken out.
Since the surgery on Tuesday that showed he had cancer, Leo has given clear signs that he is healing nicely. He even made a phone call to Russian President Vladimir Putin, talked with his top team members, and led a religious service in a hospital room. Short medical notes from his main doctor and surgeon also showed a smooth healing path that allowed him to do his everyday activities totally by himself.
The Vatican shared the first pictures of Leo since his lung cancer operation on Friday, showing him standing by an altar in a hospital prayer room wearing green robes, while doctors noted that checks showed his steady healing.
Leo led the religious service by himself, giving holy bread to the medical workers and Vatican police who were there, Vatican speaker Matteo Bruni said. He also gave a short speech where he thanked the hospital workers for their daily efforts in helping sick and weak people, especially for what they did to help him, Bruni shared.
The Vatican had first thought he would stay in the hospital for a week and had stopped his scheduled meetings until Tuesday. Bruni stated that the day he went home was completely decided by the pope’s doctors.
The pope’s next major plan is a journey to Latin America from November 6 to 17, which gives Leo three full weeks to rest before starting the busy trip that includes 12 plane trips and two helicopter rides.
The Vatican has shown that everything is ready by sharing the names of the news writers allowed to travel on Leo’s plane on Friday.
Cancer surgeons say that health rules usually allow patients to fly after three weeks, as long as they are healing well.
Doctors are still waiting for more test results to understand the exact type of cancer, to see if it has moved past that one section of the lung, and to decide if he needs any more medical care.
