Pope Leo Announces Upcoming Surgery After Doctors Find Nodule In Lung

Pope Leo XIV will undergo surgery in the coming days to remove a small nodule from his lung.

The pope shared the news himself during his Sunday Angelus, telling the faithful gathered for the prayer that recent medical exams had detected the nodule, according to Vatican News.

Doctors caught it early and found the nodule contained within a single area of the lung. They recommended surgery to take it out, and the pope said he would follow their advice. (RELATED: Pope Leo Takes On Assisted Death, Secularism, Education In Blunt Message To French Establishment)

“The doctors believe that it is best to intervene, so, following their advice, I have decided to undergo surgery to remove it,” Leo said.

Pope Leo: I will undergo surgery soon to remove nodule in my lung https://t.co/QzNwK2Gz7B

The procedure will take place at Rome’s Agostino Gemelli Polyclinic, with the operation set for the first days of this week, according to Vatican News. Holy See press office director Matteo Bruni told reporters the pope should need roughly a week to recover afterward.

The hospital, a Catholic teaching institution, has long served as the site of papal care and keeps a suite reserved for the pope on its 10th floor, according to the Associated Press (AP).

Pope John Paul II had a benign tumor removed from his colon at the same hospital in 1992, the AP reported. Dr. Sergio Alfieri, who leads Gemelli’s digestive surgery department, operated on Pope Francis for a colon ailment in 2021 and repaired a hernia in 2023, according to Catholic News Service. Francis spent several days recovering in the hospital after the hernia repair.

Leo, born Robert Francis Prevost in Chicago, became the first U.S.-born pope when cardinals elected him in May 2025 after the death of Pope Francis earlier that year.

The pope closed his address by asking for prayers. “I thank you for your spiritual closeness and entrust myself to your prayers,” he said, according to Vatican News.