Pope Leo XIV returned to the Vatican after being discharged from Rome’s Gemelli Hospital on Saturday afternoon, Oct. 17, four days after an operation for lung cancer.
His surgeon, Dr. Stefano Margaritora, told Vatican News that there are “no clinical reasons” the pope should not make his planned trip to South America, Nov. 6 to 17.
Pope Leo walked out of the hospital’s main entrance around 3:30 p.m. local time to applause and cheers from the crowd gathered outside, under the glare of television lights, camera flashes and phones.
He was accompanied by Dr. Margaritora and Dr. Luigi Carbone, the pope’s personal physician.
The first American pope smiled, looked well and waved to the crowd. He stopped briefly to greet a 13-year-old Ukrainian girl, now recovered from cancer, whom he had met on Dec. 31. She thanked him for giving her strength to overcome the illness and gave him a gift of a stuffed toy dressed as a pope. She was accompanied by Father Taras Kotsur, the Ukrainian priest who heads Vatican Radio’s Ukrainian section.
Pope Leo then got into a car, and 10 minutes later he entered Vatican City through the Porta Perugino (the Perugino Gate), near the Domus Santa Marta.
He is now back in his apartment in the Apostolic Palace. On Sunday, he is expected to appear at the window of the papal study on the palace’s third floor to recite the midday Angelus and greet the crowd in St. Peter’s Square.
The Vatican announced at 11:30 a.m. local time that the pope would be discharged. The statement, signed by Dr. Margaritora and Dr. Carbone, said: “Based on the blood tests and chest X-ray performed this morning, and after evaluating his clinical condition, the Holy Father has been deemed fit for discharge.”
The 71-year-old Augustinian pope was admitted to Gemelli Hospital on Tuesday and underwent surgery that same day, during which his doctors removed the lower lobe of his right lung.
When he was admitted, the Holy See Press Office said he would be in the hospital for about a week, but Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican secretary of state, later said the doctors expected he would be there for five days.
Since his operation, Leo, who is otherwise in good physical condition, has shown remarkable calm throughout his trial. He recovered well day by day, as the regular blood tests and chest X-rays confirmed. Indeed, Saturday’s discharge was widely expected, especially after the Vatican released photos Friday of him presiding at the celebration of Mass and delivering a homily. To Vatican observers, the homily seemed like a farewell to the doctors, staff and those who had cared for him during his stay.
The doctors did not mention the histological examination results in Saturday’s statement. These are expected in the coming days. They will reveal the extent of the cancer and whether the surgery removed it completely, and they will help determine what follow-up treatment the doctors may prescribe. Any treatment plan could also bear on the trip, though Dr. Margaritora said the pope’s surgical recovery should not stand in the way. Leo is expected to follow his doctors’ advice.
In the Vatican News interview, Dr. Margaritora said the operation “was routine in the sense that, in similar cases involving a lung tumor of a certain size, the entire lobe containing it has to be removed. In the Holy Father’s case, that was the lower lobe of the right lung.”
The surgery went ahead “without any complications,” he said, and he was “truly pleased” with the pope’s recovery. “The Holy Father has put his heart and soul into his recovery, as the most motivated people do after this kind of operation,” he said. “He needed very little assistance from us. His determination to recover quickly has been effective in every respect.”
He said that “it takes a couple of weeks to make a truly complete physical recovery after this kind of operation,” adding: “Since almost a week has already passed, I believe the pope could be fully recovered in another 10 days or so. As for a long trip involving air travel in about three weeks, I would say there are no clinical reasons why it should not take place.”
He described Leo as “an ideal patient.” “He was always serene, always smiling, and rarely complained, despite the pain a person inevitably feels, even with all the measures we take,” he said. “He followed every stage of our guidance on diet and physiotherapy. He got back on his feet and always did a little more than we asked of him.”
Update, Oct. 17, 2026: This story has been updated to report that Pope Leo XIV has been discharged from Gemelli Hospital and returned to the Vatican, and to include comments from his surgeon on his planned trip to South America.
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