Pope out of bed, progress 'normal' after lung cancer operation

A life-size cutout of Pope Leo XIV is displayed inside the main church in Sana, northern Peru. [Ernesto Benavides, AFP]

Pope Leo XIV is out of bed, walking and eating after doctors removed a cancerous tumour from his lung, while post-surgery tests show his progress is "normal", his doctors said Wednesday.

Part of the pope's right lung was removed in Tuesday's operation at Rome's Gemelli hospital and the leader of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics is now awaiting the results of a biopsy to determine if the cancer has spread.

Blood tests and a chest X-ray meanwhile "confirm a normal post-operative course", doctors Luigi Carbone and Stefano Margaritora said in a statement released by the Vatican.

"The values are within the expected range for the type of procedure performed," they said.

The discovery on Tuesday that a nodule detected in Leo's lung was cancerous has plunged the Catholic Church into a period of uncertainty.

"It's a shock for everyone. We're in 'wait-and-see' mode," a Vatican source told AFP.

Doctors said his recovery was "proceeding as expected" and the pontiff had eaten both breakfast and lunch, been walking about his room, and had done some respiratory physiotherapy.

The sporty 71-year-old, elected as the first pope from the United States only last year, made the surprise announcement that he would be undergoing surgery after Sunday prayers.

Messages of support flooded in from around the world, including from Britain's King Charles III, who is also being treated for an undisclosed cancer.

A banner flying outside the hospital read "Long live the pope!" and a handful of people recited prayers for the hospitalised pontiff.

Nearby, nun Angele Bilegue said she had come to pray for Leo.

"I'm not worried. I came to express my closeness, to show my spiritual support, because I also came for Pope Francis," she told AFP.

Leo's predecessor, the Argentine Francis, spent five weeks last year being treated for double pneumonia at the same hospital, before his death at the Vatican on April 21, 2025.

Experts said much would depend on how advanced Leo's cancer was, and whether it had spread, but the Vatican has said it had been detected early and was localised.

Before the operation, the Vatican said the pope's recovery should take around a week. All his audiences have been cancelled until October 20.

"If we are dealing with stage I or II disease, and recovery is good... the patient can resume a normal life and usual activities within a few weeks," Alain Gelibter, an oncologist at Rome's Policlinico Umberto I hospital, told AFP.