Pope Leo XIV disclosed a health issue on Sunday, telling the faithful gathered for the Angelus prayer at the Vatican that he will have surgery in the coming days to remove a “localized nodule” in his lung.
The 71-year-old pontiff, born Robert Francis Prevost in Chicago, said the growth had been detected at a “very early stage” and that his doctors had advised removing it. “Following their advice, I have therefore decided to undergo an operation,” he said, asking the crowd to keep him in their prayers.
About a week of recovery

Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said the procedure is planned for the first days of the week at Gemelli Hospital, where popes traditionally receive treatment, and that recovery is expected to take roughly one week. The Vatican did not say whether the nodule is cancerous. Medical experts note that most lung nodules turn out to be benign, often the result of old infections or scar tissue.
It was not immediately clear whether the surgery will affect the pope’s planned trip to Uruguay, Argentina and Peru in early November.
In the same address, Leo appealed to the warring parties in Ukraine to allow grain shipments to pass safely through the Black Sea, saying the daily bread of millions “cannot be held hostage by war.” A day earlier, he had called the death penalty “inadmissible.”