Papstgenesung: Papst nach Krebs-OP zurück im Vatikan

Pope Leo XIV returned to the Vatican four days after undergoing lung surgery to remove a cancerous growth from the Gemelli clinic. Upon exiting the hospital, he was greeted warmly by hospital staff and smiled at the crowd. The visibly unimpressed by his strenuous operation from the previous Tuesday, the head of the Catholic Church briefly reunited with his faithful congregation before leaving the hospital.

Today, Pope Leo plans to deliver the traditional Angelus prayer from the window of his Vatican residence. It was on this Sunday that he announced unexpectedly that a "mass in the lung" had been discovered during his recent check-up, which was still in the early stages. It remained uncertain whether it was benign tissue, a precursor to cancer, or a malignant tumor.

Physicians later determined that the pope had undergone the removal of the lower lobe of his right lung, where the tumor was located. The seven-kilometer journey from the clinic to his Vatican residence was completed by Pope Leo in a Vatican-owned limousine on Saturday afternoon. The Vatican's press released a statement on the morning of the discharge, citing new test results from his doctors.

Initially, it was expected that Leo would be released on Tuesday. Leo had even spoken with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday, urging him to call for a ceasefire in the Oleshky front town of southern Ukraine, where he expressed his deep concern for the humanitarian situation. Pope Leo also reaffirmed his call for peace and dialogue.

Earlier reports of Leo's recovery had been very positive, and he had undergone a blood test and a chest X-ray on Friday, during which "a persistent improvement in his health condition" was noted. The Gemelli clinic celebrated the 71-year-old pope with a mass in the presence of a few employees. Leo was treated and operated on at the clinic in northwest Rome, which has a dedicated ward for the Pope.

The Vatican released images from the hospital three days after the surgery showing the Pontiff celebrating mass in a standing position in the clinic chapel. The American-born pope thanked all hospital staff for their work. In the Gemelli clinic, Leo's predecessor, Francis, had also been treated several years ago, as he was already missing a portion of his lung.

Physiotherapy was now being provided to help him breathe more easily after the removal of the lower portion of his right lung lobe. Otherwise, he was reported to be independently carrying out his daily routine. Further details from the doctors were not available, leaving unclear whether the pope was now cancer-free. The removed growth was a type of lung adenocarcinoma, which is the most common form of lung cancer.

Experts stated at the time that a lung lobe removal was not a dramatic event. It involved a 10 to 20 percent loss of lung function, which in daily life is often hardly noticeable. Even Torsten Bauer, Chief of Pneumology at Berlin's Emil von Behring Hospital, stated that if Leo's lung function had been normal before the operation, the removal of the lung lobe would not affect him.

However, it was unclear whether the cancer had spread. Specifically, the size of the tumor, the presence of other nodules in the lung, and the involvement of lymph nodes were all crucial factors for experts to determine the outlook. It remains uncertain whether Leo will be able to undertake his planned nearly two-week trip to South America in November.