This story has been updated.

Pope Leo XIV has “resumed work” three days after undergoing a successful surgery to remove a malignant tumor from his right lung on Oct. 13, the Vatican said. His right lung has made “a good recovery,” and his overall recovery “is proceeding as expected,” according to a medical report released to the media by the Vatican Press Office at 2 p.m. (local time) on Oct. 15.

The report was signed by Dr. Stefano Margaritora, the lead surgeon who carried out the operation, and Dr. Luigi Carbone, the pope’s personal physician at the Vatican.

It said Pope Leo “underwent routine checkups” this morning “which showed normal results.” Significantly, “the chest X-ray revealed good recovery of the operated lung.”

The 71-year-old pope “carried out his daily activities independently” and “the physical therapy session included a full range of motor activities,” the doctors said.

This morning, the Vatican issued a brief statement saying that “the pope had a good night in the hospital, got up and had breakfast.” Later in the day, the Vatican noted it would stop issuing morning briefings along these lines and transition to exclusively afternoon updates, unless there was relevant information to communicate in the mornings.

Speaking to journalists after the publication of today’s report, Matteo Bruni, the director of the Holy See Press Office, said the pope “has started back to work.” Vatican sources said Pope Leo had received a visit from Archbishop Paolo Rudelli, the “substitute” (or chief of staff) of the Vatican’s Secretariat of State, this afternoon.

Mr. Bruni did not say anything about the possibility—reported in Italian media today—that Leo would recite the Angelus on Sunday from a hospital window on the 10th floor, as Popes John Paul II and Francis had done during some stays at Gemelli. He said the pope’s trip to Latin America, due to begin in 23 days, is still on. But a senior Vatican source, who did not wish to be identified, told America, “I would be surprised if it goes ahead!”

Speaking to journalists about the pope’s health on the sidelines of an event at the Embassy of Iraq to the Holy See on Oct. 15, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican secretary of state, said, “I continue to be worried, but I trust his doctors.” 

“I am truly, enormously sorry for what happened, but I trust the news they gave us in the bulletins, and therefore I also hope that this situation can be resolved as soon as possible,” the cardinal said.

On Pope Leo’s scheduled trip to Latin America, Cardinal Parolin said that “we’ll have to wait and see” what the doctors say, emphasizing that it is “a long and demanding journey.” 

Asked whether he thought the pope would give the Angelus on Sunday, he said: “It will depend a little on how his convalescence goes. It seems they’ve given him five days, so if he’s better by the end of the week, I think he’ll give the Angelus at the Gemelli Hospital.”

Cardinal Parolin, who was the runner-up in the conclave that elected Leo XIV, commended how the pope communicated his illness to the public on Sunday, Oct. 11. “I am truly very, very pleased that his communication was delivered in such a way that there are no conspiracy theories, which journalists always look for,” he said.

Asked if he thought that as a result of having cancer, Leo will have to “reshape” his pontificate, the cardinal said: “The pope has only been hospitalized two days; no predictions of any kind can be made. It’s now a matter of seeing when he will return, what situation he will return in, what the doctors will say, and based on all these elements the pope will then also reshape his pontificate if necessary.”

Asked for a comment on today’s medical report, Dr. Anna Lisa Bilotta, who works at the Salvator Mundi International Hospital in Rome, told America: “Everything is going well. This is a good result.”

She said “the operation was well prepared and not an emergency,” and “we see the results of that in his post-operation recovery and—as reported today—in the good recovery of his right lung after the removal of the malignant tumor.”

She emphasized, however, that “we have to wait for the results of the histological examination,” which will reveal important information about whether the cancer has spread and what post-operative treatment the pope may have to undergo. It would “normally take about 10-15 days after the operation for the histological results to be available, but in the pope’s case it may be less, perhaps a week,” she said.

Gerard O’Connell is America’s senior Vatican correspondent and author of The Election of Pope Francis: An Inside Story of the Conclave That Changed History. He has been covering the Vatican since 1985.